The Federal Government, yesterday, declared that the days of crude oil as driver of global economy, are numbered.
As a way of making the best of the remaining days of relevance of petroleum in the global market, it sought the cooperation of the National Assembly for the speedy passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) , forwarded to both the Senate and the House of Representatives, two weeks ago by President Muhamnadu Buhari.
Speaking during an interactive session with the leadership of the National Assembly on the intendment of the bill, the Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, said having wasted 20 years in putting in place required laws for regulation of the oil industry , the country need to quickly pass the PIB to make the best of investments from the sector before 2040 , already forecasted for 50% loss of relevance of crude oil in global market.
“It is quite unfortunate that since year 2000 when attempts were made to come up with draft copy of PIB, to 2007, 2009 and 2012 when draft bills were submitted to different sessions of the National Assembly by the executive arm of government without passage, up till 2018 when the legislators came up with one; that we are yet to put on ground required laws for effective regulation of the oil industry.
“Twenty years have been wasted in putting the laws in place for a sector that has 20 more years of full relevance going by forecasts already made. Forecasts in oil industry circles indicate that oil will play less and less role in global economy.
“Specifically , by year 2040 which is 20 years away, relevance of oil in global economy will reduce by 50%,” he said.
