…Wants gas flaring to end by Dec. 31, 2010

By Oscarline Onwuemenyi

ABUJA – The proposed reform of the nation’s oil and gas sector could get underway with the planned passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill by the National Assembly before the Christmas holidays begin.

This position was disclosed on Tuesday by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Gas, Senator Osita Izunaso, in an address at the 10th Anniversary Special Gas Symposium organized by the Nigerian Gas Association, in Abuja .
According to Izunaso, National Assembly has reached almost concluded debate and review of the bill, which is expected to initiate the process for the complete reform of the nation’s oil and gas industry.

The Senate Committee Chairman also disclosed that the upper chamber has concluded work on the bill to stop the flaring of gas by the end of next year, and has sent it to the House of Representatives for its input.

He said, “The National Assembly has reached the final lap of the race to pass the PIB. We are almost certain that the PIB will be passed before Christmas, with all things being equal.

“We have done everything we need to do: the bill has gone through first and second readings, and we have held a public hearing where the various stakeholders had opportunity to contribute to the debate, and the Senate has also spent sometime in a retreat reviewing the bill.”

He added that what the legislature is doing presently “is to cross the t’s and dot the I’s, and if we are able to finish that before the end of the year, we would certainly pass the bill.”

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, who also spoke at the symposium, expressed happiness at the resolution by the National Assembly, even as he stressed that only reform in the oil and gas sector would provide the much needed investment in the industry.

Izunaso, however, noted that there were some recommendations in the bill that his committee consider to be unfriendly to the gas sector, and efforts would be made to review them as quickly as possible.

He said, “We don’t have to use the same yardstick to measure oil and gas, since one is more developed than the other. The fiscal regime for both the oil and gas sectors as provided for in the PIB are almost at par, and we believe that is not the way it is supposed to be.

“This is because the gas sector has not been as developed as the oil and sector, and there needs to be some incentive to keep investors in the gas sector.

Such incentives, according to him, include reduction in the proposed taxation regime for the gas sector.
“Of course, these are not matters that we have to submit to the public for their input, since we have gone past that stage. Rather, we intend as a committee in the Senate to look at the gas component in the PIB with a view to making easy for investors to come in and put their money,” he added.

Izunaso explained that the price of gas in the international market is not the same as that of oil, adding that the country has not also developed the gas industry as well as it has the oil component.

We have not developed our gas to compete favourably with international price of gas. We would be looking at the price of gas.