OPTS: PIB Could Deter $109 Billion of Investment

Oil Producers' Trade Section of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce has said that the Petroleum Industry Bill could cost Nigeria over $109 billion of investment if passed in its present state.

According to a presentation by the industry body, the unfavorable fiscal terms would result in Nigeria's oil production hitting a plateau of about 3 million barrels a day around 2016, and then start to decline as $109 billion in planned new investment would no longer be economically feasible.

Nigeria has long planned a thorough overhaul of its oil industry, encompassing everything from tax rates to environmental laws to the structure of the country's state-owned oil company, but the bill has stoked controversy and drawn strong criticism from the oil sector.

Uncertainty over the bill's passage has already taken its toll on the industry.

Last year, Nigeria's Department of Petroleum Resources said the country's recorded reserves had fallen to 36.5 billion barrels from 37 billion barrels in 2010 as a result of a slowdown in investment linked to uncertainty over the bill

$4bn Refinery Deal: NNPC Disowns MoU

Facts has emerged that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was not a party to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed recently with a United States firm, Vulcan Petroleum Resources Limited and an indigenous company, Petroleum Refining and Strategic Reserve Limited, for the construction of six modular refineries in Nigeria.

 A highly placed NNPC source said that the NNPC’s top management was consulted by the Trade Ministry in respect of the refinery deal. He said the corporation had no hand in the project and is currently not in partnership with either the trade ministry, US firm or the Nigerian company in respect of the said modular refinery project.

Announcing the $4.5 billion refinery project last month, Minister of Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga had stated that the six refineries, which will have a combined capacity of refining 180,000 barrels of oil per day would be built in collaboration with the NNPC. Aganga, who signed on behalf of the Federal Government, had stated that two of the refineries would be completed within the next 12 months, while the others will be completed within the short to medium-term.

The minister had also noted that the refineries would be located in areas where there are crude oil pipelines, adding that when completed, each modular plants will refine up to 30,000 barrels of crude oil per day and produce up to five million litres of petrol, diesel and kerosene.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/nnpc-disowns-mou-on-4bn-refinery-deal/123385/