Page 10 - AfrOil Week 23 2021

AfrOil POLICY AfrOil

However, they did not meet that deadline and bill through very rigorous consultations, and
are now aiming to do so before the end of June. at the end of the day we narrowed down our
Ahmad Lawan, the president of Nigeria’s differences and areas of potential conflict,” he
Senate, announced the new deadline earlier explained. “I think we have been able to achieve
this week, during the opening session of the that significantly. The speed and commitment
2021 Nigeria International Petroleum Summit the National Assembly has shown in working on
(NIPS) in Abuja. He reported that members of the PIB and reaching where we are today shows
the Senate and the House of Representatives that we have chosen the right path.”
expected to wrap up work on the bill in the near Nigeria’s government has been trying to
future. draw up and pass a new oil and gas law for more
“As I speak, our joint committee of both [the] than a decade. According to officials in Abuja,
Senate and the House on the PIB are about to delays and debates on this front have caused the
conclude writing the report [that] will be sub- country to lose out on many billions of dollars’
mitted to both chambers of the National Assem- worth of investment. ™
bly,” Lawan was quoted as saying by This Day.
“Our expectation is that we will pass the PIB
within this month of June, by the grace of God.”
He went on to say that the Buhari adminis-
tration had already made more progress than
its predecessors with respect to updating and
replacing Nigeria’s existing legal regime for oil
and gas. This stems partly from legislators’ deci-
sion to work more closely with the president
when drafting important legislation, rather than
maintaining exclusive control over the task of
drawing up new laws, he asserted.
“We now have a better co-operative
approach, where the National Assembly will
work with the administration to conceive the The PIB is designed to attract investment in Nigerian oil and gas (Photo: DPR)

Zimbabwe aims to attract more oil

and gas investment, minister says

ZIMBABWE Winston Chitando, Zimbabwe’s Minister of success of all the company’s mining activities,
Mines and Mining Development, said last week including when commercial discovery has been
that his country’s government saw oil and gas achieved.”
projects as an important means of attracting Special Grant 4571 includes the Muzarabani
investment to the country. and Msasa fields, which may hold a combined
Speaking at the annual meeting of the Cham- volume of 9.25 trillion cubic feet (261.94bn
ber of Mines of Zimbabwe (CoMZ), Chitando cubic metres) of natural gas and 294mn bar-
noted that Zimbabwe hoped to see $12bn of new rels of gas condensate in gross mean unrisked
investment committed to subsurface resource reserves. Muzarabani is the larger of the two
extraction by 2023. Oil and gas exploration will fields, with 8.2 tcf (232.2 bcm) of gas and 250mn
help the country reach this target, he stated. barrels of condensate, while Msasa may contain
“My ministry has an inclination towards oil 1.05 tcf (29.73 bcm) of gas and 44mn barrels of
and gas exploration,” he added. condensate.
The minister talked up Zimbabwe’s hydro- Another speaker at the CoMZ meeting was
carbon potential, noting that Geo-Associates oil and gas lawyer Nicolas Bonnefoy, a partner
was gearing up to begin a 2-D seismic survey of in the ASAFO & Co. firm. Bonnefoy urged the
Muzarabani, a field within Special Grant 4571, government of Zimbabwe to establish a compre-
its licence area in the Cabora Bassa basin in hensive legal regime for the oil and gas industry.
October. The company, which is 80% owned by Harare should move forward on this front as
Australia’s Invictus Energy, will use the results of quickly as possible if it wants to become a com-
the survey to select drilling sites, he said. petitive player, since investment in hydrocarbon
Zimbabwean authorities are optimistic projects is set to decline in the long term. The
about the project, he said. “We need to quantify country will need a favourable legislative, regu-
the resource through exploration, which is cur- latory and taxation regime, as well as a balanced,
rently underway,” he commented. “My ministry enforceable and stable system of contracts, he
will ensure that it gives us full support to the said. ™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 23 09•June•2021