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Legal practitioners with specialty in Oil and Gas Law have urged the National Assembly to delay no further in the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill.
According to them, the current legal regime in the Nigerian oil and gas sector has become archaic, thus limiting investments and occasioning revenue loss.
The lawyers made this call at a two-day retreat recently organised for them by Bromshy Communications Ltd.
The retreat, which held at Southern Sun Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos, was with theme, “Petroleum Industry Bill: Its implementation a panacea for sustainable growth and self-reliance.”
Leading the debate on the need for an urgent passage of the PIB, the Legal Manager, Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, Mr. Amaitari Andabai, said the bill was needed for the creation of a favourable fiscal regime, which, he said, was foundational to driving investments in the oil and gas sector.
“Nigeria’s petroleum laws are archaic; the passage of the PIB is long overdue to position the legal regime of oil and gas on a contemporary footing. We must embrace change if we must move forward.
“Strict and full implementation of the PIB is the key to sustainable development of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
“The fiscal regime of the PIB is quite investor friendly. It compares favourably with other oil and gas fiscal regimes, and has the required features to stimulate further investments in the oil and gas industry,” Andabai said.
He added that the PIB had robust provisions that would address myriads of other silent issues in the Nigerian oil and gas sector.
A partner at Perchstone & Greys law firm, Tolu Aderemi, described the non-passage of the PIB as damaging to the country’s economy.
“A nil investment in the upstream is a recipe for drought in the industry. Let us place the nation above self and get the bill passed.
“A well thought out, well crafted, truly workable and balanced document would redeem us as a nation from what is becoming a global embarrassment,” Aderemi said.
In his own contribution, the Executive Director and General Counsel at ExxonMobil, Sadiq Adamu, said, “While many countries have changed their petroleum laws from time to time, best practice is to do so in a careful manner allowing for systematic implementation of new laws and regulations, establishments of new institutions in order to avoid operational, administrative and regulatory disruptions.”
A senior lecturer at the Niger Delta University, Dr. Perowei Subai, described as irregular a situation where the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation functions both as a regulatory and commercial agency but its accounts were not open to scrutiny.
The Company Secretary/Legal Adviser at Gas Aggregation Company Ltd., Sam Aiboni, said more should be done to build the domestic gas market.
He advocated investment in infrastructures such as Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben pipeline, Trans Nigeria Gas Pipeline and Escravos Lagos pipeline system.
A Non-Executive Director at DUBRIL Oil Company Limited, Clement Seweje, urged oil-producing companies to hold their leaders to accountable rather than resorting to vandalism of oil installations.
He said, “It is when they (oil companies) operate that incomes and development will flow in. Communities must hold their government and relevant agencies accountable for the development of the zone. They must act as whistle-blowers in their respective domains.”
A former Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Dr. Austin Tam-George, noted that the PIB requires every company in the industry to contribute 10 per cent of their net profit to a Petroleum Host Community Fund on a monthly basis.
According to them, the current legal regime in the Nigerian oil and gas sector has become archaic, thus limiting investments and occasioning revenue loss.
The lawyers made this call at a two-day retreat recently organised for them by Bromshy Communications Ltd.
The retreat, which held at Southern Sun Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos, was with theme, “Petroleum Industry Bill: Its implementation a panacea for sustainable growth and self-reliance.”
Leading the debate on the need for an urgent passage of the PIB, the Legal Manager, Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, Mr. Amaitari Andabai, said the bill was needed for the creation of a favourable fiscal regime, which, he said, was foundational to driving investments in the oil and gas sector.
“Nigeria’s petroleum laws are archaic; the passage of the PIB is long overdue to position the legal regime of oil and gas on a contemporary footing. We must embrace change if we must move forward.
“Strict and full implementation of the PIB is the key to sustainable development of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
“The fiscal regime of the PIB is quite investor friendly. It compares favourably with other oil and gas fiscal regimes, and has the required features to stimulate further investments in the oil and gas industry,” Andabai said.
He added that the PIB had robust provisions that would address myriads of other silent issues in the Nigerian oil and gas sector.
A partner at Perchstone & Greys law firm, Tolu Aderemi, described the non-passage of the PIB as damaging to the country’s economy.
“A nil investment in the upstream is a recipe for drought in the industry. Let us place the nation above self and get the bill passed.
“A well thought out, well crafted, truly workable and balanced document would redeem us as a nation from what is becoming a global embarrassment,” Aderemi said.
In his own contribution, the Executive Director and General Counsel at ExxonMobil, Sadiq Adamu, said, “While many countries have changed their petroleum laws from time to time, best practice is to do so in a careful manner allowing for systematic implementation of new laws and regulations, establishments of new institutions in order to avoid operational, administrative and regulatory disruptions.”
A senior lecturer at the Niger Delta University, Dr. Perowei Subai, described as irregular a situation where the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation functions both as a regulatory and commercial agency but its accounts were not open to scrutiny.
The Company Secretary/Legal Adviser at Gas Aggregation Company Ltd., Sam Aiboni, said more should be done to build the domestic gas market.
He advocated investment in infrastructures such as Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben pipeline, Trans Nigeria Gas Pipeline and Escravos Lagos pipeline system.
A Non-Executive Director at DUBRIL Oil Company Limited, Clement Seweje, urged oil-producing companies to hold their leaders to accountable rather than resorting to vandalism of oil installations.
He said, “It is when they (oil companies) operate that incomes and development will flow in. Communities must hold their government and relevant agencies accountable for the development of the zone. They must act as whistle-blowers in their respective domains.”
A former Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Dr. Austin Tam-George, noted that the PIB requires every company in the industry to contribute 10 per cent of their net profit to a Petroleum Host Community Fund on a monthly basis.
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