Page 10 - AfrOil Week 06 2020

AfrOil PERFORMANCE AfrOil
 Additionally, it is the lowest level reported since 2011, when the ouster of Libya’s long-time leader Moammar Qaddafi sparked widespread civil unrest. In August of that year, crude output stood at just 45,000 bpd.
NOC has also seen refinery throughput sink dramatically. On February 10, a source inside the company informed AFP that the Zawiya refinery had suspended operations. The plant’s two distillation units, which have a capacity of 60,000 bpd each, are now offline, he said.
So far, NOC has sustained losses of more than $1bn as a result of the LNA blockade.
The UN has been trying to work towards a cease-fire. Last week, it brokered talks in Cairo between the parties to the conflict, with LNA and its tribal allies on one side and the Trip- oli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) on the other. The discussions were not successful, and the UN has suggested that the factions start another round of meetings on Feb- ruary 18.
POLICY
Nigerian legislators reportedly planning to draft new oil law “from scratch”
The LNA currently has control over most of Libya’s southern and eastern regions, where tribal leaders have long complained that they are not receiving a fair share of NOC’s revenues from oil sales. Ghassan Salame, a special envoy for the UN, said last week that revenue distribu- tion remained the primary point of contention between the LNA and GNA. ™
The Zawiya refinery is now off line (Photo: NOC)
NIGERIA
AHMAD Ibrahim Lawan, the president of Nigeria’s Senate, said last week that legislators hoped to draw up a brand new version of the proposed oil law, which will be known as the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).
In a Twitter post, Lawan said that members of parliament were consulting with President Muhammadu Buhari, with a goal of drafting the PIB “from scratch.”
He did not reveal any details of these talks, but he did assert that the resulting bill was sure
to be passed by both houses of the legislature and then sent to President Buhari for his signa- ture by the end of this year. It would then take effect before 2021.
Nigeria’s government has been trying, so far without success, to secure the passage of a new oil law.
But Lawan said that the legislation was more
likely to be adopted this time because the pres- idency and both chambers of parliament are all
in the hands of the same party. 
IOCs have urged Nigeria to pass a new oil law (Photo: Lagos Television)
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