Tag: Senate

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SENATE SHIFTS PIB HEARING / EXCERPTS FROM HOUSE OF REPS HEARING ON JULY 11, 2013

The Senate’s two-day Petroleum Industry Bill (“PIB”) public hearing session, initially slated for July 16 and July 17, 2013, has been moved to Thursday, July 18 and Friday, July 19, 2013.

The hearings were moved as a result of the Senate’s planned vote on Constitutional amendment and  a valedictory session in honor of the late Senator Pius Ewherido both taking place on the 16th and 17th of July respectively.

The Senate’s hearing will now come up exactly one week after the House of Representatives’ final public hearing on the Bill.

Although hearings failed to hold on Wednesday, July 10 as initial stated, the House of Representatives, on the second day of hearings, played host to a cross-section of stakeholders in the oil and gas industry made up of the National Union of Petroleum and Gas Workers Association (NUPENG), Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association (PENGASSAN) and other interested stakeholders as reported.

Both NUPENG and PENGASSAN, in a joint presentation, submitted that the Bill conferred excessive powers on the Minister and as such encroached on the powers of the Regulators. The Unions’ position was also shared by Malam Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai.

Speaking in his capacity as Director of the Centre for Africa’s Progress and Prosperity (“CAPP”), El-Rufai suggested that Joint Ventures be incorporated and quoted on the stock exchange to encourage Nigerian’s participation in the petroleum industry. He also panned the President’s indiscriminate powers to allocate acreages.

The General Manager (Commercial), Shell Exploration and Production Africa, Marc den Hartog, said the company “fully supports the aspirations of government as contained in the PIB.” He however suggested that the PIB clearly define the roles and responsibilities of entities, especially those of the Regulators so as to avoid overlaps and conflicts.

NEITI’s Executive Secretary, Hajiya Zainab Ahmed, suggested that the PIB provide for a public register of corporate entities that bid for, operate or invest in petroleum upstream assets, including the identities of their beneficial owners and their levels of ownership. She also urged for provisions that would allow for cash-call payments for Joint Ventures as a first line charge on the Federation Account. “This means that the federal government’s share of the expenses for JV operation would be paid based on agreed work-plan and budgets directly from the Federation Account, prior to other disbursements from the said account,” she said.

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATE HOLD FINAL PUBLIC HEARING ON PIB

The House of Representatives’ Ad-hoc Committee on the Petroleum Industry Bill (“PIB”) in a communiqué issued on Monday, July 8, 2013, has notified the general public of its final public hearing on the Bill.

Members of the public, especially industry stakeholders, professional / interest groups, host communities, state and local governments, have been invited to make representations to the Ad-hoc Committee on the PIB on Wednesday, 9th and Thursday, 10th July 2013 at the New Wing of the House of Representatives National Assembly Complex, Abuja. All memoranda on the Bill are required to be typed, hardcover bound and produced in twenty (20) copies.

The House of Representatives’ hearing is to be followed by a two-day public hearing by the Senate’s Joint Committee on the PIB.

The Senate’s public hearing, taking place on Tuesday, 16th and Wednesday, 17th July, 2013 at Conference Room 022, New Senate Wing National Assembly Complex, is to host the Minister of Petroleum Resources, the 36 State Governors as well as heads of government Ministries, Departments and Agencies on the first day, and on the second day, Managing Directors of International and National Oil Companies, the Nigerian Labour Congress, Petroleum Marketers, industry stake holders and members of the public.

Stakeholders and interested members of the public willing to make representations on the Bill to the Senate’s Joint Committee are required to submit their memoranda in fifty (50) hard copies and one (1) soft copy to the Committee’s Secretariat in Room SB 10 (Red Carpet), (White House), the Senate National Assembly Complex, Abuja on or before Thursday 11th July, 2013.

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PIB SENATE COMMITTEES TO REPORT TO THE SENATE IN 6 WEEKS

It has been reported (here and here) that the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) on Thursday, March 6, 2013, scaled through the Second Reading on the floor of the Senate and has been passed on to the Senate Committees on Petroleum (Upstream and Downstream), Gas and Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters.

Senators Emmanuel Paulker (Bayelsa Central), Chairman Committee on Petroleum(Upstream); Magnus Abe (Rivers South/East), Chairman Committee on Petroleum(Downstream); Nkechi Justina Nwaogu (Abia Central), Chairman Gas Committee; and Umaru Dahiru (Sokoto South), Chairman Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters are charged with collating the views of the Senate on the Bill together with those of the public, which would be received through public hearings, and report same to the House within six (6) weeks.

The Senate President, David Mark commended the accord shown by his colleagues in getting the Bill passed to the Committee Stage and expressed his delight that the Bill had enjoyed robust debate as no fewer than 81 Senators had made contributions on the Bill over the past 3 days.

Mark summarized the general issues the Senate had with the Bill as:

  1. The provision for a Petroleum      Host Community Fund;
  2. The insufficiency with regards      frontier exploration; and
  3. The excessive powers of the Minister      of Petroleum.

He also made note as to the impracticability of certain portions of the Bill such as the Bill exempting the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) assets to be privatized from provisions of the Public Procurement Act.

Although he pointed out that the Bill was a “worthy Bill”, he also mentioned that no Bill had come through the Senate and not been tinkered with. He assured the House that subsequent to the public hearings, “amendments, additions and subtractions” will be made to the legislation.

 

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DAY 2: SECOND READING OF THE PIB

Wednesday, March 6, 2013 saw the second reading of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) on the floor of the Senate enter into its second day. (Reported here and here).

Deliberations once again centered on the controversial 10 per cent allotted for the Petroleum Host Community Fund (PHCF).

Senate Committee Head on Rules and Business, Ita Enang (Akwa Ibom North East) in refuting the collective opposition by Northern Senators to further funding of oil producing regions through the PHCF, introduced another dimension to the debate by alleging that over 83 per cent of the indigenous acreage allotted in the Niger Delta were given to individuals from the North-East and North-West geo-political zones while the rest were distributed amongst individuals from the South-East and South-West which effectively returned most of the proceeds on investment in the Niger Delta to the North. He then called for the revocation and reallocation of oil blocks in line with the federal character principle. Adding his support to Enang’s view, Senator James Manager (Delta South), warned against withdrawing the Fund as it may breed the return of militants to the creeks, whilst Senator George Thompson Sekibo (Rivers) maintained that the money from the fund was not meant for the South-South region alone.

Senator Abdulahi Adamu (Nasarawa West) while accepting the spirit behind the reforms in the oil and gas sector asked that caution be exercised in the moves to privatise the National Oil Company as a lack of transparency and accountability could jeopardize the process.

Senator Olufemi Lanlehin (Oyo South) voiced concerns about Section 191 of the Bill which gave the President discretionary powers to grant licenses. He expressed worry that the Bill did not place any limitations on this discretionary power by the President.

An area that garnered support from Senators from both Northern and Southern divides was the need to provide adequate funding and support frontier exploration. Senator Manager was of the view that oil exploration in other states would contain the bickering over the PHCF incentives.