Thursday, 28th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search

PIB passage to unlock foreign capital, aid sector development

By Femi Adekoya
26 August 2020   |   3:45 am
With the amended Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) awaiting transmission to the National Assembly for passage, oil and gas operators are hopeful that the bill would help Nigeria unlock foreign capital and develop the energy sector, especially gas.

… About 3.8tcf gas to be exploited from OML 42

With the amended Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) awaiting transmission to the National Assembly for passage, oil and gas operators are hopeful that the bill would help Nigeria unlock foreign capital and develop the energy sector, especially gas.

Indeed, stake owners in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 42, Neconde Energy Limited, have also stated that no less than 3.8 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas would be developed and monetized from the well, as part of the government’s gas development agenda.

The firm equally advocated increased local consumption of gas, especially for electricity generation, rather than depending heavily on export.

Head of Gas Ventures at Neconde, Chichi Emenike, during a webinar on, ‘’Gas as a new frontier for Economic Growth,” said the declaration of 2020 as a gas year to spur attention to gas prospects, can be used to cause economic recovery post-COVID-19 pandemic, and become a reality if there are enforceable laws to regulate the way of doing things in the sector.

According to her, the speedy passage of the PIB will encourage more investors in the oil and gas space to see Nigeria as a choice investment destination where their stakes will be protected.

“We need to get deliberate with the PIB in addressing fiscal issues. The country has suffered from unnecessary delays from the PIB. Investors are not making a lot of decisions because of the delayed PIB. Available capital can only come into the country if people see that their investments are secured,” she added.

She noted that Nigeria can’t afford to continue to be seen as a place with flip-flop legislation in its oil and gas sector when smaller countries have since emplaced valuable statutes that have strengthened their oil and gas industry.

Aside from the willing buyer, willing seller approach that will drive the sector with appropriate gas pricing, she said the full liberalization of the sector should be considered by the government to attract the much-needed investments on key gas infrastructure across the country.

She commended the federal government for inaugurating the Nigerian Gas Transportation Network Code (NGTCN), saying the initiative will liberalize the gas market and address infrastructure constraints in the sector.

On the country’s gas flare regulations commercialization programme, Emenike expressed optimism that the gesture would enable various gas-to-power projects which would make the country attain the global terminal date for gas flare by 2030.

On her company’s contribution to the country’s gas sector, she said the firm currently has 80 million SCF of associated gas and intends to grow the same to 100 million SCF in the nearest future.

Emenike said Neconde is collaborating with partners with a view to exploring other value chains in the country’s gas market, all in a bid to change the face of Nigeria’s oil and gas to cause economic recovery through massive contributions to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

In this article

0 Comments