Nigeria to address inconsistency in oil, gas sector

The ministries of Petroleum Resources, Finance and Budget & National Planning have promoted a new initiative targeted at addressing key challenges in the nation’s oil and gas sector.

Speaking in Abuja at the inaugural meeting of the Nigerian Petroleum Fiscal Consistency Network, which would drive the initiative, Adviser to the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dr. Tim Okon, said the group would focus on addressing issues of data, fiscal and results consistency.

While discrepancy in data, fiscal terms and others remained a major challenge affecting investments and informed decisions in the nation’s oil and gas sector, Okon said the move formed part of strategies to reform the sector.

With the development, he explained that reliable and properly analyzed data would be provided in the sector to enable investors and government to make informed decisions.

He added that the ministries already have a biding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that would ensure that the objectives of the network were properly delivered.

“This is part of the reforms in the oil and gas sector. It is consistent with ongoing reforms, whether it is enhancing economic growth or ensuring that we make decisions on analysis of information,” he said.

He stressed that inconsistencies in the figures of crude oil production, revenue and other statistics drastically affect projections and policy development.

Okon pointed out that the country needed to properly capture data and show integrity of the data in a consistent manner, adding that the manner in which sectorial results is presented, remains key and include ways of improving the sector’s governance.