The Federal Government has highlighted conditions that must be created to further attract investment opportunities in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
The government said that efforts must be made to maintain and even surpass the current rate of investment, develop creative solutions and provide their advantages, and Combine local and global strengths to propel progress everywhere.
It said it believes that our Petroleum industry particularly the upstream segment has the commitment and inventiveness to address such problems.
According to the minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timpre Sylva, who spoke on the various step taken by the government to attract investors to the industry, he stated that however, that the industry is plagued with humongous litigation issues on assets which eventually end up being resolved through an arbitration process.
“In that regard, we are in the process of developing a policy on Dispute Resolution on Assets which inculcates the principles of arbitration and mediation for speedily administration of justice.”
The minister who spoke at the 60th anniversary of the Oil Trade Producing Section (OPTS) of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) said in attracting these needed investments that have eluded the entire petroleum industry value chain, the Ministry in fulfilment of its mandate as enshrined in Section 3 (e) of the PIA to: “Promote an enabling environment for Investment in Nigerian Petroleum Industry” has set-up up an Oil and Gas Investment Promotion office (OGIPO) which will act as a one-stop shop for Oil and Gas investors.
The center, he said, is being institutionalised in collaboration with the Industry’s Regulators to create a culture of business enablement for would-be investors. We are also in the process of bringing up policy guidelines on all aspects of the PIA 2021 to guide the industry towards increased production.
“It is no exaggeration to say that the ability of this industry to meet the world’s energy needs without damaging the environment will determine the trajectory of the twenty-first century. It is in the realization of these that we are championing the use of Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCUS) by operators like you to decarbonize existing and new production fields.”
He said, while we fully maximize the value from our crude oil, gas having been declared as our transition fuel will help in our drive to address our energy poverty status in power,transportation, agriculture and other critical sectors to fully industrialize our nation.
Achieving this therefore would require that, we create a conducive business environment to attract all the available Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) into the sector. With the formulation of deliberate policies and regulations that would encourage investments and enhance private businesses in all the streams.
Olusola Bello
