TheCable

President Muhammadu Buhari says the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) will help Nigeria benefit from rising oil prices. 

The Petroleum industry Act (PIA) provides a new institutional, regulatory and fiscal framework for Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.

Buhari, represented by Timipre Sylva, minister of state for petroleum resources, said this on Monday at the 5th Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES 2022) in Abuja.

Last week, global oil prices rose above $100 a barrel, for the first time since September 2014, with escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

“Crude oil prices are on the rise again after turning negative in April 2020. It is a great opportunity for us as a country,” Buhari said. 

“With the PIA in place, there should be no excuses. The enabling investment environment which has been the bane of the industry has been taken care of by provisions in the PIA.

“There is now a level of certainty for the regulatory, administrative and fiscal framework and the legitimate grievances of host communities most impacted by activities of the industry has been addressed by the Act.”

According to him, in a bid to demonstrate the government’s seriousness, the present administration did not delay the implementation of PIA.

“We moved quickly and scrapped the existing agencies and replaced them with new ones. We have inaugurated their new Chief Executives too,” he said.

“We also ensured the incorporation of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) under the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA).

“The NNPCL is a limited liability company now and our target is to make it the biggest, the most capitalised and the most profitable company in the whole of Africa.”

The president further told the summit that Nigeria had adopted gas as its transition fuel as the world moves towards cleaner sources of energy.

He said this informed the administration’s Decade of Gas initiative, which aims to transform Nigeria into a gas-based industrialised nation through enhanced and accelerated gas revolution.

“We will ensure further optimal exploitation and utilisation of the country’s vast natural gas resources,” he said.

“Given the country’s potential of about 600 trillion cubic feet, natural gas has the enormous potential to diversify and grow Nigeria’s economy.

“We are fully aware that energy transition raises the bar in terms of environmental, social and governance demands.

“We do not have to panic. We are already building blocks and bricks that will ensure seamless energy transition as the country joins in the race for net-zero carbon emission.”

The president said Nigeria is prepared to face the global demand for cleaner energy sources with the enactment of PIA, successful completion of the 2020 marginal oilfields bid round and the decade of the gas initiative.

“We are waiting to deliberate on the strategy paper from this summit and incorporate critical parts of it into government’s policies where necessary,” he said.