The Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB which has been gathering dust at the National Assembly due to non passage will be split into sections and resend to the National Assembly for passage.
This was disclosed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo yesterday in Abuja. He said breaking up the Petroleum Industry Bill, or PIB, into smaller laws focused on fiscal and regulatory measures in Nigeria’s energy industry would make it easier to pass through National Assembly. The bill, first presented to parliament in 2008, will be resent to lawmakers in the first quarter of 2016. “Separating the PIB, breaking it up, obviously is the way I would think that we’ll proceed’. “That’s really what the market has been waiting for.”
The proposed law has been held up largely by political wrangling and objections by international oil companies, which say the government is demanding too big an increase in its share of revenue. The delays have caused uncertainty and is costing $15 billion a year in lost investments, Emmanuel Kachikwu, the Group Managing Director Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and ministerial designate, told the Senate last week.
The Vice President also revealed that the nation will not be selling any of its refineries. He said the administration will be encouraging the establishment of private refineries. More than 30 licenses for refineries have been granted and private refineries will be allowed to build near the state-run units so they can “benefit from the available infrastructure,” he said.
The country of about 180 million people subsidizes fuel and relies on imports for more than 70 percent of its supply. Of the four state-owned oil refineries, two units in the southern oil hub of Port Harcourt with a combined capacity of 210,000 barrels a day are currently producing at 67 percent of capacity, while others in Warri and Kaduna have been shut, Kachikwu said.
“In the medium term we will be able to get cheaper pump-price oil because we will be importing far less refined petroleum,” Osinbajo said.
