PIB: More Pressure on National Assembly

Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers has asked that the Senate pass the Petroleum Industry Bill currently before it. Governor Amaechi made the call in Port Harcourt when the Senate Committee on Petroleum on the Downstream Sector, led by its Chairman, Sen. Magnus Abe, called on him.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the late President Umaru Yar’Adua forwarded the bill to the Sixth Senate in 2008. According to him, when the petroleum bill is passed into law it to enhance the nation’s economic growth, help promote industrialisation, create job opportunities and reduce crimes.

Gov. Amaechi said that the lack of a law to govern operations in the industry had been hindering the development of the sector. The unpleasant effects of the delay in the passage of PIB has significantly reduced exploration and production of oil and gas in the deep offshore oil fields in Nigeria and also reduced the attraction of Direct Foreign Investment (DFI) in the oil sector.

The Nigerian crude oil output, which is stood at 2.5 million barrels per day, was expected to hit three million barrels per day, but with the issues facing the industry, the nation’s oil production output has been affected due of the reduced the pace of discovering oil wells and production of existing reserves.

Click here for more....