Nigerian Senate, alongside the National Assembly, has passed a two-decade long-awaited oil industry bill that seeks to overhaul nearly every aspect of the country’s oil and gas production.
The Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) seeks to overhaul how Nigeria shares its oil resources with international oil companies, alongside attracting new investments in the oil and gas sector.
In the bill, the Senate approved a 30% funding mechanism of NNPC’s (Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation) profit from oil and gas for frontier basins, which will, in turn, be used for oil exploration.
Nevertheless, community leaders in the country’s oil-rich regions want changes to the bill’s latest version, seeking a larger share of revenues for the community. Last month, NNPC signed a deal with Total, Shell, Eni, and Exxon to develop an offshore oil block which includes the deepwater Bonga field. The NNPC reiterates that the deal marks a historic moment as it settles long-running disputes between the Nigerian government and international oil companies.
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