The National Assembly has said moves are on to ensure the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill before the end of April, 2021.
The National Assembly ad-hoc Committee on PIB disclosed this during an inspection tour of the Port Harcourt Refining Company in Eleme, Rivers State.
The Chairman of the House committee, Mohammed Mongunu, said the visit to the PHRC was imperative to ascertain how the challenges affecting the nation’s four refineries could be tackled within the ambit of the PIB.
“Our intention is to pass the PIB with the speed of light before the end of April 2021, so that Nigerians can get the benefit of a reformed oil and gas industry that is much more competitive and can attract foreign direct investments. We are here at the Port Harcourt refinery to see the constraints and how best these constraints can be tackled within the ambit of the PIB and leverage the same with a view to attracting the much needed investment in the oil and gas industry.
“This is especially against the backdrop of the fact that the world is moving from fossil fuel to renewable energy. So, there is a need to make our oil and gas sector competitive,” Mongunu explained.
Earlier, the Managing Director of PHRC, Ahmed Dikko, said plans were underway for the rehabilitation of the two refineries in Port Harcourt by April this year.
Dikko said, “We are going to bring this facility to optimum production capacity in a very short time. We have a very dedicated team, who are committed to this work. Rehabilitation work will commence within the next one or two months. The whole engineering procurement and construction are almost complete and approval is almost done.
“By and large, by next month or April at most, we must have mobilised contractors to the site and we hope to run it about the second quarter of 2023, where we will continue to open them in phases.”
