Page 18 - AfrOil Week 01 2021

AfrOil POLICY AfrOil

Nigeria set to begin following

EITI disclosure requirements

LIBYA NIGERIA is reportedly ready to uphold new the plan and how this plan will affect their oper-
requirements imposed by the Extractive ations going forward because from [the begin-
Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), an ning of 2021], we expect that NNPC contracts
international organisation that promotes good will be published as soon as they are made, and
governance and financial transparency in the the content of those contracts will be made pub-
oil, gas and mineral sectors of its member states. lic through the NNPC website. On the part of
Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, the head of EITI’s DPR, we expect that such contracts will also be
Nigerian arm (known of NEITI), said late last made public, and that is what NEITI is pushing.
month that the West African state was ready We also expect that the Mining Cadastre Office
to comply with the 2019 EITI Standard. This will do the same for the mining sector, and then
standard calls for members of the group to make we will take [this] down to all of the relevant cov-
information on the terms of new, amended or ered entities.”
revised subsurface resource contracts available Orji also indicated, though, that NEITI was
to all citizens as of January 1, 2021, he explained. still working out how to implement the new pol-
It also requires participating countries to report icy while also protecting trade secrets. “[The]
on their governments’ policies for disclosure of content and approach of how these contracts’
information on deals for the exploration and information will be disclosed are still subject to
development of hydrocarbons and minerals, he what we are discussing with the various covered
said. entities in order not to jeopardise their opera-
Accordingly, Orji told Vanguard, NEITI’s tions or to allow [the release of] information
draft implementation plan calls for state-owned that may not be required or information that is
Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) to key to the heart of the operation of the agencies
begin disclosing the terms of contracts as of the [into] the hands of [the] wrong people,” he told
beginning of the new year. It also provides for Vanguard. ™
the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR),
the Mining Cadastre Office (MCO) and other
relevant government agencies to uphold these
requirements on the same schedule, he said.
NEITI drew up the programme “with the
support of development partners and [multiple]
stakeholders,” he added. “We have had [a] series
of workshops with stakeholders to validate this
implementation plan,” he said.
He continued: “We want the stakeholders,
the covered entities to understand the content of EITI’s Nigerian branch is known as NEITI (Image: NEITI)

Citing safety concerns, Total asks some

staff to vacate Mozambique LNG site

MOZAMBIQUE FRANCE’S Total is reported to have asked Bloomberg reported on January 2 that fight-
some of the staff working at the Mozambique ers from a group aligned with Islamic State
LNG construction site to leave because of secu- had attacked the nearby village of Quitunda.
rity concerns. This comes as attacks by Islamist This is where Total is relocating communities
militants in the region have been taking place from other parts of the concession as it builds
increasingly closer to the site of the gas liquefac- Mozambique LNG’s export facilities and other
tion plant the company is building in Mozam- infrastructure, the sources said. Quitunda is less
bique’s northern Cabo Delgado Province. than 1 km from the airstrip the company built
Citing sources familiar with the matter, within its construction camp’s perimeter fence.

P18 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 01 06•January•2021