Page 4 - AfrOil Week 34

AfrOil COMMENTARY AfrOil

Nigeria’s House of Representatives has set up a special committee to work on the Petroleum Industry Bill (Photo: Vanguard)
Nigeria floats a new oil law at last

After more than two decades of struggle and disappointment, the presidential administration

has submitted the latest version of its Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) to the National Assembly

NIGERIA’S government has spent more than Bill (PIB), and representatives of the Ministry of
two decades trying to formulate and approve Justice delivered it to the National Assembly for
WHAT: legislation that provided appropriate and com- debate on August 18.
The latest version of the prehensive guidance for the oil and gas sector. It
bill was presented to did manage to pass the (sadly inadequate) Petro- Domestic operators’ response
legislators on August 18. leum Law in 2004, but it has been trying ever There do not appear to be any immediate obsta-
since to replace it with something better. cles to passage of the PIB. The head of Dupri Oil,
WHY: For more years, all such attempts failed. The a domestic firm, complained earlier this month
Local and foreign compa- presidential administration submitted a new that the government did not seek enough input
nies, along with Nigerian draft to the National Assembly in 2007, to no from independent operators such as his own
business leaders, hope avail, and its second attempt also yielded no company. He also indicated, though, that Dupri
the PIB will give the oil results. It came closer during its third attempt in Oil would comment when the PIB had reached
and gas sector a better 2018, when it submitted four separate bills cov- the point in the legislative process where it
foundation for success. ering governance, finance, administration and became the subject of public hearings.
social welfare issues. However, the governance Other Nigerian independents have struck
WHAT NEXT: bill was the only legislation to make it out of the a more upbeat note. For example, Chichi
This year’s upsets make National Assembly, and President Muhammadu Emenike, the head of gas ventures at Neconde
quick passage of the bill
more likely. Buhari did not sign it. Energy, said at a webinar last week that she
This time around, the government has vowed expected the PIB to lay the groundwork for
to secure a different outcome. Timipre Sylva, the the development of Nigeria’s vast natural gas
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, and and associated gas resources, in line with the
other high-ranking officials have said Abuja is government’s plans to end flaring and promote
determined to pass and enact a new oil and gas domestic gas-to-power projects.
law before the end of this year. She also said that the bill would go a long
Buhari’s administration has a chance of way towards reassuring current and potential
achieving its aim this year. The president and the investors that Nigerian projects were not too
Federal Executive Council recently approved risky. “We need to get deliberate with the PIB in
the most recent draft of the Petroleum Industry addressing fiscal issues,” she said.

P4 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 34 26•August•2020