PIB Will Lead To Commercialisation, Not Scrapping Of NNPC – Sylva

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, has clarified that the Petroleum Industry Bill when signed into law would lead to the commercialisation of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation

The Minister said this in Abuja after a meeting with the leadership of the National Assembly on the PIB.

He said it was untrue that the Bill would lead to the scrapping of the NNPC, adding that it would make the Corporation to be fully Commercialised in the interest of Nigerians.

He said, “I have heard a lot of noise about NNPC being scrapped but that is not envisaged by the bill at all.

“We’ve said that the NNPC will be commercialised in the interest of Nigerians.”

The Minister, however, explained that the Bill, in bringing transformation to the industry would introduce the development of the mainstream, which is the pipeline sector between the upstream and the downstream.

He added that adequate provision has already been made for the growth of the mainstream sector.

“The Petroleum Equalization Fund and the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency will not exist in the same form that they exist today.

“The host community has the best deal but the details of the bill would be unfolded on the floor of the Senate,” he added.

The need to pass the bill into law had become imperative as low oil prices and a shift towards renewable energy have made competition tougher to attract investment from oil majors.

The PIB which was reported to have been submitted to the National Assembly stated that from the effective date that the bill becomes an Act, about 12 regulations relating to the oil and gas sector would be repealed.

The Regulations that are expected to be repealed with the PIB are Associated Gas Reinjection Act, 1979 CAP A25 Laws of the Federation 2004, and its Amendments; Hydrocarbon Oil Refineries Act No. 17 of 1965, CAP H5 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004; Motor Spirits (Returns) Act, CAP M20 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004; and
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (Projects) Act No. 94 of 1993, CAP N124 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.

Also to be repealed are Section 31 of the Oil Pipelines Act, CAP 07 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004; Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Act 1977 No, 33 CAP N123 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria as amended, when NNPC ceases to exist pursuant to section 54(3) 83(3) of this Act;
Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (Establishment) Act 2003; and
Petroleum Equalisation Fund (Management Board etc.) Act No. 9 of 1975, CAP P11 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.

The PIB would also repeal Section 7, Oil Terminal Dues Act 1965;
Petroleum Equalisation Fund (Management Board, etc.) Act, 1975; Petroleum Profit Tax Act Cap P13 LFN 2004, and
Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contract Act 2019, as amended.

Also, the provisions of the Pre-Shipment Inspection of Oil Export Act, 1996 would be amended accordingly.