Senate President Ahmad Lawan, on Monday, said an amendment of the Production Sharing Contract Act in the oil industry “has become absolutely necessary for us to do so as a country so that we can generate more revenues from our endowments.”
Lawan spoke while declaring open a public hearing on the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contract 2004 (amendment) Bill 2019 sponsored by Senator Albert Bassey Akpan.
The public hearing, according to a statement by Ola Awoniyi, Special Adviser (Media) to President of the Senate, was convened jointly by the Senate committees on Petroleum (upstream), Gas, finance, and Judiciary.
The Senate President assured that the Senate will, in the process of carrying out the amendment, be mindful of the need to maintain a competitive environment for businesses to continue to thrive.
The Senate, he said, will also ensure that the Oil and Gas business in Nigeria remains profitable, stressing that the bill seeks to amend Section 5 of the PSC Act, bringing its provisions into conformity with the generality of provisions.
The amendment, he continued, is also to bring the Act into congruence with the intendment and essence of Production Sharing Contracts.
“We want to attract more investments and therefore it is absolutely necessary that we engage in a process that we produce a win-win situation” for Nigeria and the business concerns in the oil and gas industry.
“Let me assure everyone here that the national assembly is determined to pass this bill and of course that will be a precursor to our determination to pass the Petroleum Industry Bill next year,” Lawan said.
The Petroleum Industry Bill was first introduced in 2007 and the bill is yet to be passed in its entirety.
Lawan said the National Assembly will this time around adopt a different approach to make the passage of the PIB a reality.
“We want to see a situation where the Legislature and the Executive work very closely to have a PIB that will attract investment into the oil and gas sector in Nigeria.
“An investment climate that will be competitive; we know we have other countries who have this product, and therefore we have to be competitive, we have to have an environment where the businesses make a profit.
“This is a journey that involves everyone. We want both governments – and that includes the legislature and executive on one hand and IOCs (International Oil Companies) to work together to ensure that this environment we are trying to create is an environment that will work for all of us,” Lawan said.