International and local oil companies under
the aegis of Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS) Thursday stoutly opposed
the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) at the opening session
of a two-day public hearing in Abuja.
The two-day public hearing was organised by the Senate Joint Committee on the PIB. According to the OPTS, which is a conglomerate of 18 international and indigenous oil companies, though the PIB possesses a unique opportunity to resolve the numerous challenges confronting the oil sector, it only sets out to aggravate it and simultaneously reduce investment potential in the oil sector.
The PIB also got some knocks from Niger State Governor, Dr. Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu, and his Kaduna State counterpart, Alhaji Ramalan Yero, who opposed the provision of 10 per cent host community fund as contained in the bill.
Miffed by the sweltering opposition to the PIB, Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, in her contribution, urged stakeholders not to personalise or politicise the bill as it was conceived in the overall interest of the oil and gas sector as well as of the Nigerian economy.
In their presentation made by the OPTS representative and Managing Director, Mobil Producing Nigeria, Mr. Mark Ward, the oil companies said the PIB fell short of addressing the challenges in the oil industry.
He said: "The PIB presents a unique opportunity to resolve many of these challenges. However, in our view, the bill does not resolve these challenges but it will in fact reduce the much-needed investments to sustain and grow the oil and gas industry." Ward, who said the OPTS compared fiscal terms spelt out in the PIB with fiscal terms in 20 other countries, argued that the trend in such countries is to provide a platform for the balancing of high royalties with lower taxes and vice versa.
He also submitted that the PIB fails to guarantee this because "it significantly increases royalties and taxes and virtually eliminates all at the same time" and thus imply that Nigeria has the harshest fiscal regimes in the world.
"The result is that Nigeria will have one of the harshest fiscal regimes in the world, so harsh in fact, that not only is Nigeria uncompetitive, but the projects are actually uneconomic, meaning there is no acceptable return on investments," he added.
The two-day public hearing was organised by the Senate Joint Committee on the PIB. According to the OPTS, which is a conglomerate of 18 international and indigenous oil companies, though the PIB possesses a unique opportunity to resolve the numerous challenges confronting the oil sector, it only sets out to aggravate it and simultaneously reduce investment potential in the oil sector.
The PIB also got some knocks from Niger State Governor, Dr. Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu, and his Kaduna State counterpart, Alhaji Ramalan Yero, who opposed the provision of 10 per cent host community fund as contained in the bill.
Miffed by the sweltering opposition to the PIB, Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, in her contribution, urged stakeholders not to personalise or politicise the bill as it was conceived in the overall interest of the oil and gas sector as well as of the Nigerian economy.
In their presentation made by the OPTS representative and Managing Director, Mobil Producing Nigeria, Mr. Mark Ward, the oil companies said the PIB fell short of addressing the challenges in the oil industry.
He said: "The PIB presents a unique opportunity to resolve many of these challenges. However, in our view, the bill does not resolve these challenges but it will in fact reduce the much-needed investments to sustain and grow the oil and gas industry." Ward, who said the OPTS compared fiscal terms spelt out in the PIB with fiscal terms in 20 other countries, argued that the trend in such countries is to provide a platform for the balancing of high royalties with lower taxes and vice versa.
He also submitted that the PIB fails to guarantee this because "it significantly increases royalties and taxes and virtually eliminates all at the same time" and thus imply that Nigeria has the harshest fiscal regimes in the world.
"The result is that Nigeria will have one of the harshest fiscal regimes in the world, so harsh in fact, that not only is Nigeria uncompetitive, but the projects are actually uneconomic, meaning there is no acceptable return on investments," he added.
No comments:
Post a Comment