The Federal Government has stated that the country is currently on track as regards policies and strategies that will turn the country into Africa’s investment hub in the oil and gas industry.
Permanent Secretary Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Dr Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, who disclosed this stated that cooperation with other countries is being developed to drive growth in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.
Sani-Gwarzo, who spoke at Nigeria Oil and Gas Outlook 2021, on “Achieving Energy Security; the Engine for Secured Economic Growth,” stressed that the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) and other policies in the oil and gas industry will drive investment across the oil and gas value chain.
PIA, to him, provides an opportunity for purposeful investment into the development of Nigeria’s oil and gas resources by providing clear and simple fiscal terms that would guarantee reasonable investors’ margins.
“One central theme that runs through the Nigeria oil and gas sector today is the importance of implementation of the PIA on public finances, oil and gas production, the fiscal regime for international oil companies, transparency in the petroleum sector and indeed the entire sections of the proposed law. We couldn’t agree more. Effective implementation is at the heart of this Act and remains the route through which value will be unlocked into the Nigerian economy”.
“The PIA aims to incentivize optimality and cost-efficiency and cost-effectiveness in oil production. Different levers such as the cost-price ratio, the replacement of the investment tax allowances, and investment tax credits (which encourage gold plating) with production allowances that reward incremental production have been instituted.
“These measures are in addition to industry-wide initiatives already rolled out by the government, which focus on cost reduction and enablers in this regard,” he stated further.
He expressed confidence that with the Act in place, Nigeria is on track in its quest to align with the transit to cleaner energy globally.
Apart from producing liquid hydrocarbons, Gwarzo noted that the country is using its abundant gas resources as a bridge fuel between the fossil of today and the renewable energy of tomorrow.
Source: Guardian
