Federal Executive Council approves the National Oil Policy

The Federal Executive Council approved the National Oil Policy today 19th of July, 2017. This is the second oil industry reform policy the Federal Executive Council has approved in the last month. This leaves the Petroleum Fiscal Policy. We shall publish a copy of the policy document once it is made available. Congratulations to the Honourable Minister and his Senior Technical Adviser on Upstream & Gas, Mr. Gbite Adeniji.

PIB – House of Representatives seeks to pursue another route

Thisdayonline reports that the House of Representatives seeks to pursue another strategy in the passage of petroleum industry reforms. The Chairman of the House Committee, Petroleum Upstream, Hon. Victor Nwokolo (Delta-PDP) indicated in a press conference yesterday that the House bill will include the Petroleum Host Community Fund as well as Fiscal reform matters.  This runs against the reports that the PIGB passed by the Senate would be given accelerated hearing by the House.

Given the legislative and political timetables, this recent development will pose a challenge to the adoption of the PIGB or indeed any part of the petroleum industry reforms into law in the near future. It is our opinion that the two houses of the National Assembly should work together in the national interest to avoid further delays to much-needed reforms.

The “Trash that is the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB)” and other news

The newspapers continue to cover the fallout from the passage of the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB). A few of yesterday’s reports are highlighted below. 

YNaija.com publish a scathing opinion piece by Saatah Nubari titled “THE TRASH THAT IS THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY BILL (PIB)“. Nubari criticised the decision of the Senate not to address the Petroleum Host Community Fund first as in his opinion this is the most critical piece of the raft of legislation to be passed. 

The Premium Times provides us with an infograph detailing the decade long journey in the passage of the Petroleum reform bill. 

Thisday considers the passage of the bill a small but significant step in the right direction. 

Proshareng.com provides a detailed analysis of the contents of the bill, which is worth reading.