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Tag: PIB

  • Petroleum bill to be passed in March – NASS

    Petroleum bill to be passed in March – NASS

    Senator Donald Alasoadura, Chairman Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream), has assured that the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill will be passed latest in March.

    Alasoadura said this on Tuesday in Abuja at a plenary to discuss new legislation and policy to transform the oil and gas sector.

    The plenary, which held on the margins of the 16th Nigeria Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition (NOG), had six discussants to proffer solutions on how government policies could develop the oil sector.

    According to Alasoadura, the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill will by the end of March, go through its third reading.

    The bill seeks to address all governance-related issues in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.

    “Once a bill gets to its third reading, it is as good as being passed. We are expecting the bill to be passed in March or latest by April.

    “The Local Content Law will also be properly taken care of.

    “We’ve asked for areas of amendment from the Executive Secretary and we’ll be glad to do it.

    “’We know we need laws that are in line with international standards. We need an NNPC that will be smooth, commercially oriented, that can run smoothly and make money,” he said.

    He said the legislators decided to have only one regulatory body in the sector to ease the process of doing business and attract more investments.

    “That it takes time like a year to set up a business in the industry is an aberration.

    “We are thinking of when we have a timeline for all businesses to be completed within six months,” Alasoadura said.

    Also, Mr Simbi Wabote, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), said the time had come for local content to grow.

    ‘“Local content brings down costs and this is the time for local content to grow.

    “Government is establishing Nigerian Development Bank to fund local content and local contractors that will give genuine Nigerian investors good interest rates.

    “The objective is not to seek profit but to help local investors. We will make sure that the bank is helping Nigerian companies,’’ Wabote said.

    The Group Chief Executive of Oando Plc, Wale Tinubu, said Nigeria could never have a successful downstream until the sector became fully deregulated.

    He further said “the essence of the policy is to drive logic, hence the only way of freeing the NNPC is to pass those policies we seek.

    For instance, no country trucks products for more than 1,000 kilometres except in a war. We spend more trucking the products outside the country”.

  • Unions seek inclusion of workers’ interests in PIB

    Unions seek inclusion of workers’ interests in PIB

    Oil workers under the aegis of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Workers (NUPENG) have called on the National Assembly to include workers’ interests in the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) undergoing the process of being passed at the National Assembly.

    The unions made the call in a memorandum submitted to the Joint Senate Committee on PIGB at a public hearing on the Bill in Abuja. They based their memorandum on five major policy broad thrusts which are: transparency and accountability, fiscal terms,     institutional framework (minister, regulator and commercial entities), refinery and other downstream activities, and labour issues and membership of institutions, boards and committees.

    “The position of the NUPENG and PENGASSAN is that wherever matters concerning or connected with the workers such as interalia:  remuneration, pension, welfare, transfer and deployment are mentioned, the unions (PENGASSAN and NUPENG) must be involved and Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) must be respected and clearly included in the law,” the unions stated in the memorandum.

    According to the two oil and gas in-house trade unions in their memorandum titled: “PENGASSAN’s Position on the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill 2016”, the bill will determine the future of Nigerian oil and gas industry, as well as the Nigerian workers.

    The unions said: “This is more so as the bill contains provisions about staff transfers from the NNPC and other impacted government agencies. The bill also plans to change the ownership structure of the government establishments in the petroleum sector, including asset sales and eventual divestments.

    “Clearly, the PIGB is intended to privatise as much as it is practicable, government’s interest in the petroleum sector. This, if not carefully handled, will lead to serious labour issues.

    “There are also additional challenges posed by repeals of existing laws as some of the Acts establishing the government agencies except for Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF), Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NNRA) and Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) will be repealed by the PIGB.

    “The position of the PENGASSAN and NUPENG is that staff of the NNPC and all other agencies that will be impacted by the PIGB must NOT lose their jobs or be allowed to be transferred on terms and condition of service that are less favourable than what they currently have under any guise.”

    The unions noted that a major challenge that will confront the workers in the organisations and agencies that will be impacted by the PIGB, especially the National Petroleum Company, is the transition from a more socially focused organisation to a profit-focused organisation.

  • NNPC proposes revisions in PIB

    NNPC proposes revisions in PIB

    …Wants publications of payments to government

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Wednesday outlined a detailed proposal to help the National Assembly fine-tune its deliberation on the draft Petroleum Industry Governance and Institutional Framework law (PIGIF) which is currently before it for legislative action.

    In a presentation at the Public hearing organized by the Joint Senate Committee on the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill, Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, said that though the Corporation is in support of the decision to present the Governance and Institutional Framework as a separate legislation from the Fiscal and Commercial Framework, the prevailing international and domestic business environment makes it imperative to undertake certain revisions to the 2015 Bill as proposed to align it with best international practices.

    The NNPC GMD noted that to enhance transparency in the proposed Nigeria Petroleum Company, NPC, which is being mulled as the successor company of the NNPC, it should be mandated to publish annually a detailed report on all petroleum revenue payments made to government.

    A statement of the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the NNPC, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu quoted Baru as saying that : ‘’This should include all royalties, rentals, fees, Petroleum Profit tax, corporate income tax, other taxes, bonuses, profit oil/gas shares from each of the licenses, leases and contracts.”

    Other proposed changes listed by the Corporation include: More emphasis on a low cost, transparent and efficient administration, creating lower overhead costs for petroleum companies, institutional linkages with government decisions related to renewable resources, power generation, climate change policies and other policies affecting the petroleum industry through the roles of the Minister and the proposed National Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NPRC.

    The NNPC is also seeking: a better definition of the roles of the Minister of Environment in relation to the Minister of Petroleum and the NPRC, increased institutional attention to the development and distribution of natural gas, clarity in Joint Venture, JV  and Production Sharing Contract, PSC ownership of  assets including the handling and sale and disposal of available production.

    The NNPC wants the new law to ensure proper delineation of the responsibilities of the proposed new entities including the enactment of transition provisions for effective management of assets, re-enforcement of exploration and production from the frontier basins; much more emphasis on measures that reduce corruption and increased transparency among other items.

    The NNPC however supports the creation of three entities as enshrined in the draft PIGIFB 2015 Bill.

    These entities are: the Nigerian Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NRC, as a regulatory entity for the entire petroleum industry(Upstream, midstream and downstream the Nigerian Petroleum Assets Management Company, NPAMC, as counter-part and administrator of production sharing agreements, and such other risk-based agreements as the Government may decide and the Nigerian Petroleum Company, NPC, as a vertically integrated oil and gas company operating as a fully commercial entity across the value chain that includes the current Joint Venture Operations, Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, NPDC operations, Frontier Exploration and other upstream/service activities, refinery & Petrochemicals, downstream activities as well as sale and disposal of crude oil and products.

  • ‘Non-passage of PIB hurting economy’

    ‘Non-passage of PIB hurting economy’

    The delay in the passage of the hotly debated Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) hurts the economy generally and stymies progress in the extractive sector in particular, experts have said.

    The experts, who spoke with The Nation in separate interviews, lamented that despite being touted as the best thing that would happen to Nigeria’s oil & gas industry and also boost the economy, the PIB remained stagnated at the National Assembly (NASS) since 2007.

    The PIB, which began in 2007, was expected to produce a dynamic policy framework for massive reforms in the oil & gas industry. The reforms were expected to form the nucleus of Nigeria’s aspiration to become one of the most industrialised nations in the world by the year 2020.

    For the country to realise this dream, it was envisaged that the major source of revenue to the Federation Account, the oil & gas sector, must be repositioned for greater efficiency, openness, and competition built on corporate governance as obtained in other resource-rich nations.

    Sadly, the PIB, which is the vehicle to achieving these goals, has yet to be passed into law, with experts noting that the industry and the economy will continue to lose with the its non-passage.

    “It is unfortunate that the PIB, which is touted as the best thing that would happen to Nigeria’s oil industry and also boost the economy has been stagnated at the national assembly,” the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Holistic Security Background Checks Limited, Don Okereke, lamented.

    The security expert and consultant attributed the non passage of the PIB to high wire politics. “It appears some powerful cabals are opposed to it, he told The Nation, pointing out however, that the current Senate is reportedly making arrangements to expedite or fast track its passage.

    Also speaking, the Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Mr. Nnimmo Bassey, said: “When a suitable PIB is passed into law, it will provide a good playing field for all stakeholders in the sector.”

    Bassey, a renowned international environmentalist, told The Nation that if Nigeria values its people and the environment above money, it ought to show this in the formulation and enforcement of environmental laws.

    He said this bridge can be crossed by having uniform provisions for the environment and host communities in the extractive sector.

    According to him, this will eliminate parochial considerations and arguments that stymie progress in the sector thus allowing an unacceptable regime to persist.

    Although the PIB recently passed second reading at the NASS, Bassey noted that the reasons why the initial PIB could not be passed after eight years of negotiations and debates are still at play, adding that the unfortunate fact was that some of the contentious aspects of the Bill ought not to be contentious at all.

    “The current approach has been to break the PIB into four bills and have them passed into law in bits. The troubling aspect of that approach is that the concerns of communities and the environment may be pushed to the back burners, while financial management issues take the front seat,” Bassey argued.

    While noting that the PIB is a good first step in reforming the industry, he said the delay in passing the Bill into law was unacceptable. He attributed the delay to several factors among which are toxic politics and pressure from the International Oil Companies (IOCs) who he said have openly said they would not accept laws that curb their excessive profits.

    Bassey also identified the pressure points as wrong perception by some legislators that provision of funds for communities means more money to the oil-bearing states. “Actually the PIB makes the offer of money to communities on one hand and takes it away on the other. It criminalises communities when it says that if oil facilities are tampered with then the communities, LGS and States would pay,” he said.

    The expert argued that communities are not the policemen of oil facilities. “The PIB speaks the old language of subsisting laws that free IOCs of responsibility where facilities are interfered with by third parties. That has made the claim of sabotage the favourite refrain of the oil companies even before incidents are investigated. The PIB fell into the same anti-people trap,” he said.

  • ‘Non-passage of PIB hurting economy’

    ‘Non-passage of PIB hurting economy’

    The delay in the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) is hurting the economy and stunting progress in the extractive sector in particular, experts have said.

    The experts, who spoke with The Nation in separate interviews, lamented that, despite being touted as the best thing that would happen to Nigeria’s oil and gas industry and also the economy, the PIB has remained stagnated at the National Assembly (NASS) since 2007.

    The PIB, introduced in 2007, was expected to produce a dynamic policy framework for massive reforms in the oil & gas industry. The reforms were expected to form the nucleus of Nigeria’s aspiration of becoming one of the most- industrialised nations by 2020.

    For the country to realise this dream, it was envisaged that the major source of revenue to the Federation Account, the oil and gas sector, must be repositioned for greater efficiency, openness, and competition built on corporate governance as obtained in other resource-rich nations.

    Sadly, the PIB, which is the vehicle to achieving these goals, is yet to be passed into law, with experts noting that the industry and the economy would continue to lose with the its non-passage.

    “It is unfortunate that the PIB, which is touted as the best thing that would happen to Nigeria’s oil industry and also boost the economy has been stagnated at the National Assembly,” the Chief Executive Officer, Holistic Security Background Checks Limited, Don Okereke, lamented.

    The security expert attributed the non-passage of the PIB to high-wire politics. “It appears some powerful cabals are opposed to it, he told The Nation, pointing out, however, that the  Senate is reportedly making arrangements to expedite or fast track its passage.

    Also, the Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Mr. Nnimmo Bassey, said: “When a suitable PIB is passed into law, it will provide a good playing field for all stakeholders in the sector.”

    Bassey, a renowned international environmentalist, told The Nation that if Nigeria valued its people and the environment above money, it ought to show this in the formulation and enforcement of environmental laws.

    He said this bridge could be crossed by having uniform provisions for the environment and host communities in the extractive sector.

    According to him, this will eliminate parochial considerations and arguments that stymie progress in the sector, thus, allowing an unacceptable regime to persist.

    Bassey noted that the reasons the initial PIB could not be passed after eight years of negotiations and debates were still at play, adding that the unfortunate fact was that some of the contentious aspects of the Bill ought not to be seen as such.

    “The current approach has been to break the PIB into four bills and have them passed into law in bits. The troubling aspect of that approach is that the concerns of communities and the environment may be pushed to the back burners, while financial management issues take the front seat,” Bassey argued.

    Noting that the PIB is a good first step in reforming the industry, he said the delay in passing it into law was unacceptable. He attributed the delay to several factors among which are toxic politics and pressure from the International Oil Companies (IOCs) which, he said, had stated hat they would not accept laws that curb their excessive profits.

    Bassey also identified the pressure points as wrong perception by some legislators that provision of funds for communities meant more money to the oil-bearing states.

    “Actually, the PIB makes the offer of money to communities on one hand and takes it away on the other. It criminalises communities when it says that if oil facilities are tampered with then the communities, local govt areas and states would pay,” he said.

    He argued that communities were not the policemen of oil facilities.

    “The PIB speaks the old language of subsisting laws that free IOCs of responsibility where facilities are interfered with by third parties. That has made the claim of sabotage the favourite refrain of the oil companies even before incidents are investigated.

    ‘’The PIB fell into the same anti-people trap,” he said.

  • Senate okays new PIB for consideration

    Senate okays new PIB for consideration

    The Senate yesterday approved a new segment for the contentious Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) for consideration.

    The bill was split into five segments owing to the controversy generated by attempts to pass the original bill wholesale.

    The approval for the consideration of the new segment came through a presentation by the chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Upstream), Senator Tayo Alasoadura.

    Alasoadura had noted that there was no provision for oil producing communities in the original bill, a development that threw up heated argument at plenary.

    Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki stated that the segment in question centred on issues of governance and general administration of the petroleum industry.

    He instructed the three standing committees on petroleum (upstream and down stream) as well as the committee on gas resources to work on the document and submit a report within four weeks.

    He however directed that the segment relating to oil producing communities be submitted for prompt consideration, without prejudice to the new segment.

    Saraki said: “Clearly, what we have done here is really to make us to move forward in this important bill; to see that after so many years, we finally pass this Petroleum Industry Bill. And that is why it has been put into different sections.”

  • NUPENG urges speedy passage of PIB

    NUPENG urges speedy passage of PIB

    The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has urged the National Assembly to accelerate the passage of Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) to attract foreign investors to the oil and gas industry.

    Its Chairman, Southwest, Alhaji Tokunbo Korodo, made the plea in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Lagos.

    According to him, the non-passage of PIB is a threat to investment in the oil and gas sector.

    Korodo said no investor would be willing to invest in a business they did not understand.

    “But, I believe with the passage of PIB, more investment opportunities will be available,’’ Korodo said.

    He said the non-passage of the bill, which had passed through the second reading, forced some International Oil Companies (IOCs) to leave the country and sold off their investments to indigenous oil companies.

    NAN reports that the Senate had on Oct. 5 resolved to prioritise and fast-track the passage of the PIB and other legislations capable of contributing to the quick recovery of the national economy.

    It said that the bill would provide favourable level playing environment for both local and foreign investors.

    This was part of the 20-point resolution passed by the Senate as its legislative intervention to speedily pull Nigeria out of the current economic recession, and put the economy on the path of sustainable growth.

    Korodo said contrary to speculations on the increase in the pump price of petrol, the Federal Government was already handling the issue of foreign exchange (forex) with the oil marketers.

  • Petroleum Bill: Ajimobi advocate overhaul of operational system

    Petroleum Bill: Ajimobi advocate overhaul of operational system

    Oyo State Governor, ‎Sen. Abiola Ajimobi has called for a total overhaul of the operational system of the nation’s petroleum industry through pragmatic and practical legislation.

    He made the call on Monday evening at the expert session on Petroleum Industry and Governance Bill 2016 organised by the Progressives Governors Forum in Ibadan.

    The session was to review the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and Petroleum Industry and Governance Bill (PIGB) 2016.

    Ajimobi said that the black box approach that has characterised the operations of the industry over the years needed to be addressed.

    He stated that it was a major cause of the massive corruption and untoward practices in the industry, which has denied the country and people from deriving maximum benefit from the sector.

    “I am of the view that these scenario has persisted because of the flaws in the laws and regulations guiding the operations of the industry. Most of the laws were prepared for us by foreign operators of the system at the advent of oil in Nigeria in 1957.The substance of the laws has remained unchanged and the order is the unusual concentration of powers in the hands of the president and the minister in-charge of the industry,” he said.

    Ajimobi stated that both the president and minister could easily determine the fate of the nation’s petroleum and gas industry without consulting other relevant stakeholders.

    He said that the nation has never sat to decide on a national economic intetest and the role the petroleum industry was expected to play towards its realisation.

    According to him,” we have been contented with collecting and spending every revenue handed to us by the one- informed foreign operators.

    The governor, who described the country as extremely gas rich said urged participants to profer informed and pragmatic solution to the challenges confronting the industry.

    “No quality government is the primary cause of the myriads of problems that has continued to bedevil the realisation of the developmental role of our petroleum sector.This is with, of course the attendant negative socio-economic consequences of our country and citizenry.

    “We must articulate the potentials of getting our economy out of the woods through the consequent improved governance within the nation’s petroleum industry,” he said.

    Also, the All Progressives Congress (APC) Deputy National Chairman, South, Mr Segun Oni, said that there was need for urgent reformation of the petroleum and gas industry.

    Oni, a former Governor of Ekiti State said that it was the reason why the party had taken special attention on the petroleum industry.

    He said that the party was optimistic that the industry could be reformed through better legislation and operations.

    “The combination of the PIB and PIGB, if specially attended to with world class results, the industry will witness tremendous transformation. This will take the industry and nation greater and enviable height,” he said.

  • N/Delta activist urges NASS to expedite passage of PIB

    A foremost NGO in the oil-rich Niger Delta Region, Centre for Peace and Environmental Justice (CEPEJ), has urged Nigerian lawmakers to pass the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) into law now.

    National Coordinator of CEPEJ, Comrade Sheriff Mulade, speaking from Accra, Ghana at the weekend, decried the delay in the passage of the PIB into law by the National Assembly.

    Comrade Mulade said that the PIB in Ghana had been passed into law, whereas that of Nigeria was still being delayed for no clear reasons.

    He said that “for seven years, we are still crawling with our PIB, but that of Ghana that came up much later has been passed into law. We are supposed to set the pace for Ghana, but unfortunately, we are the one now learning from Ghana, this is shameful and we must do the right thing now.”

    The CEPEJ boss added that; “Let us put aside our differences and work with one mind for the sake of our PIB and make it work because the oil bearing communities are suffering on a daily basis from polluted environment and lack of development. The passage of the PIB by our Lawmakers will bring the needed succuor to the people.”

    “The PIB must not be killed, the bill is good for our oil bearing communities and the nation generally and whatever that can be done to accelerate its passage should be done now. The ten percent equity to oil bearing communities must be restored in the PIB.

    “The PIB of Ghana gives sense of belonging to the oil bearing communities and ours should be like that also. Ghana is far ahead of Nigeria now in terms of the PIB, let our National Assembly pass our PIB.”

  • PIB ‘ll resolve all sensitive issues, says Dogara

    PIB ‘ll resolve all sensitive issues, says Dogara

    Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Yakubu Dogara, yesterday said no sensitive or contentious issue would be dodged as the National Assembly will engage stakeholders as it begins work on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

    Dogara who spoke during the National Stakeholders Summit on Petroleum Industry Reforms organised by the House Committees on Petroleum in Abuja, said the legislature is determined to draft a law for the industry that will serve the best interest of Nigerians.

    He said: “The need to make consensus and lend a voice to long suppressed agitations in the drafting and consideration of petroleum industry bills informed our decision to organise this stakeholders summit. We are optimistic that this approach will provide the crucial platform to enable us cross pollinate ideas and ventilate our positions on contentious issues, regardless of how vexed they may be. You can be rest assured that our work at the National Assembly is to do your good intention.

    “We are not unaware of the several failed attempts at redeeming the petroleum industry by our predecessors. The PIB has been down a long, tortuous, and chequered road. Most of us have been co-travelers on the journey to pass the bill into law, and have the requisite experience to avoid any pitfalls ahead, hence this resolve to seek proper consultations with you and build confidence amongst us.”

    The Speaker lamented that a few elite are benefitting from the petroleum industry due to poor management adding that such issues will be addressed during the summit.

    “Nigeria is one of the richest petroleum regions of the world. Paradoxically, it has never been able to maximise effectively its immense oil and gas potential and the revenue accruing from it. The downstream operates in a state of almost continuous malfunction, and for years has been characterised by comatose refineries and an inefficient downstream.

    “It operates under an  inadequate legal framework, with an inefficient and poorly maintained pipeline network and depot system. The result is that Nigeria is both one of the world’s largest producers of crude oil, and one of the world’s leading importers of petroleum products, a dependency that has enriched the elite at the expense of the impoverished masses.

    “The downstream runs on a system of subsidies until recently and uniform pricing which has proved ineffective, in addition to being administered in a very opaque way. Shortages and inadequate supply have characterised the  downstream for over two decades and can be described as an example of system failure,” Dogara said.