Nigeria needs effective regulations to harness PIA benefits, says Sylva

Timipre Sylva, minister of state for petroleum resources, has said effective regulations are needed to harness the benefits of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) for global relevance.

According to NAN, Sylva said this while declaring open a stakeholders’ consultation forum on draft regulations under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) on Wednesday in Abuja.

President Muhammadu Buhari had approved a nine-member steering committee to ensure the implementation of the PIA — after he signed the bill into law.

The law which mandates the deregulation of the petroleum sector and the removal of petrol subsidy had been extended by 18 months.

The draft regulations were prepared by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) in collaboration with the presidential steering committee on the PIA.

The first consultative forum was aimed at ensuring inputs and considerations of oil and gas stakeholders on the draft regulations for smooth implementation of the PIA.

The regulations include host communities’ development, petroleum royalty, upstream fees and rent, domestic gas delivery obligations, Nigeria conversation and licencing regulations.

Sylva, chair of the steering committee, said for Nigeria to continue to be relevant at the global level, it must design regulations that could balance the energy base load for Nigeria.

According to him, effective regulations would ensure that Nigeria was not left behind in the energy transition train while still harnessing its rich natural hydrocarbon reserves.

The minister expressed optimism that the input from various stakeholders would further clarify the draft regulations and eventual firm up the final regulations for use.

According to the minister, the government has a mandate of ensuring sound management of the oil and gas sector considering the key role the sector plays in revenue generation for the country.

He said it was on this basis that the presidential steering committee played the pivotal role in collaborating with NUPRC in drafting the first set of regulations for review.

He commended the effort of the commission in the preparation of those draft regulations to beat the deadline set by the law for the commencement of the implementation of the PIA.

“I am hopeful that the regulations when fully implemented will help in no small measure in the smooth take-off of the day-to-day operations of the NUPRC,’’ he added.

Sylva said that the eventual assent signalled a new era and opportunities in the oil and gas sector of the economy after almost two decades of unsuccessful efforts to have the law passed in Nigeria.

He, while decrying challenges posed by huge divestments in the hydrocarbon explorations by oil majors in the past due to global energy transition, called for more innovative ways of fossil fuel exploitation and exploration in Nigeria.

In his remark, Gbenga Komolafe, chief executive officer (CEO), NUPRC said the forum was expected to discuss and finalise the draft regulations in line with Section 216 of the PIA 2021.

“We are conscious of prioritising regulations to meet the timelines in the PIA. As such, this first phase of the stakeholders’ engagement will capture burning issues on the implementation in line with Section 235 of the PIA,” Komolafe said.

“And also finalising the 2020 bid round through issuance of Petroleum Prospecting Licence (PPL) in line with Section 94 (2) of the PIA and a host of others.”