Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, has called for a review of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) following the absence of a defined role and seeming non-recognition of state governments in the implementation of the Act.

Oborevweri made the demand, yesterday, at the 8th meeting of the National Council on Hydrocarbon holding in Asaba, the state capital. The governor, represented by the Commissioner for Oil and Gas, Peter Uviejitibor, said that as a state with a major hub of oil production and activities in Nigeria, the state was interested not only in the effective implementation of PIA but also in the benefits of abundant hydrocarbon in the communities, enhancing their socio-economic well-being and fostering sustainable development.

He stated that the PIA marked a landmark achievement in Nigeria’s quest for a transparent, efficient and environmentally-conscious oil and gas sector, and therefore needed legislation that would reform the industry as well as create a conducive environment for investment, enhance regulatory frameworks, and promote local content development.

MEANWHILE, the National Transparency Watch has challenged the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to disclose the quantum of petroleum products being exported from Port Harcourt Refinery to Dubai-based Gulf Transport & Trading Limited (GTT).

Led by Mr Ademola Moses, the group expressed disappointment that NNPCL had yet to respond to the demands of Nigerians 72 hours after it admitted selling a cargo of Port Harcourt low sulfur straight run fuel oil (LSSR) to GTT.

The group argued that NNPCL’s choice of GTT rings the alarm, considering that the same entity had featured prominently in all the corporation’s infractions, especially in its dabbling into contaminated Russian oil.

“The corporation should convince Nigerians that the products it claimed to have traded from Nigeria are not meant to be swapped with off-spec fuel from Eastern Europe, which reports have confirmed are still being imported even though NNPCL is bizarrely exporting low sulfur straight run fuel oil, which could have been further processed to meet domestic demand,” it said.

The group further challenged NNPCL to deny that its off-taker, GTT, was not one of the front companies that set up in Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) alongside another company, Polypro Trading.

It also alleged that “the cargo that DTT reportedly took was a ploy to make people believe that what they had set up in Eleme (Port Harcourt) is a refinery, but what they will do is transship that cargo to Central Europe and send it back to Nigeria.”