By Yemie Adeoye
Contending issues surrounding the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, currently before the National Assembly, have made it imperative for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, to convene a summit of stakeholders.

As a result, the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mr. Austen Oniwon, called on industry operators to rededicate themselves to the survival of the sector, while pledging that the summit would review the challenging areas contained in the bill in good time before its passage.

Speaking during the Oil and Gas Policy Dialogue Session at the 16th Nigerian Economic Summit Group in Abuja, Oniwon urged industry operators to close ranks with the NNPC in the areas in contention, so that the entire industry can present a common position to the Presidency for onward transmission to the National Assembly.

“I like to believe that we all agree that there is an urgent need for tangible local input into the industry. I also like to believe that we all agree that there is a need to consolidate the 16 different laws and Act that govern our industry.

Once we agree on this, then the next step is to debate on how we are going to make it work. So I am happy and encouraged by the debate. We must believe that we have the capacity to make it work, if we do not, then it is dead on arrival; but if we do, then we can close ranks and find solution to matters arising,” the GMD said.

Oniwon also stated that for the industry to succeed with the proposed law, stakeholders like the international oil companies, IOC, and indigenous operators must come out from their entrenched positions on certain clauses in the PIB.

“The floor is still open and I know that until the bill is signed into law there is ample room for suggestions… As operators, it is important for us to come together and harmonise our positions. I am appealing to the IOCs and the small producers, let us come together maybe in one or two weeks under a smaller group, compare notes, run the numbers, close the gaps and agree on what we want to take to the National Assembly as a group.

“But if everybody is digging deeper into their positions and we want to go it independently, then we can’t get it right as an industry,” Oniwon argued.

The NNPC boss also debunked insinuations that the reported decline in new investments in the industry was due to uncertainties over the PIB, stating that the decline was a direct fallout of the militancy-induced disruptions in the Niger Delta region, which led to a remarkable decline in Nigeria’s oil production.

However, with the recent success in the implementation of the Federal Government’s Amnesty programme, activities in the sector is primed for a rebound with crude production currently peaking at 1.9 million barrels per day.

Present at the session were; Mutiu Sunmonu, Managing Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company and Country Chair of Shell Companies in Nigeria; Andrew Fawthrop, Managing Director of Chevron Nigeria; Austin Avuru, Managing Director Platform Petroleum Limited, Imo Itsueli, former Board Chairman of the NNPC and Chairman of the Petroleum Club, Chamberlain Oyibo, former GMD of NNPC among other stakeholders.