The Senate Report on the PIB may be found here. A notable difference from the report of the House of Representatives is the insertion of a new section 317(8), which seeks to implement the backward integration policy, previously utilised in the sugar and cement industries, in the petroleum industry. Section 317(8) provides as follows:
(1) The Authority shall apply the Backward
Integration Policy in the downstream
petroleum sector to encourage investment in
local refining.
(2) Pursuant to subsection (1) of this section,
licence to import any product shortfalls may be
assigned only to companies with active local
refining licences and proven track records of
international crude oil and petroleum products
trading.
(3) Import volume to be allocated between
participants shall be based on criteria to be set
by the Authority taking into account the
respective refining output in the preceding
quarter, share of active wholesale customers
competitive pricing and prudent supply and
distribution track records.
(4) To safeguard the health of Nigerians,
imported petroleum products shall conform to
the Afri-5 specification (50 ppm sulphur) as per
the ECOWAS declaration of February, 2020 on
adoption of the Afri-Fuels Roadmap.
The effect of the provisions of section 317(8)(1-3) will be to stifle competition in the supply of petroleum products and will ultimately have an impact on the price of all petroleum products.
