President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday depicted the rising oil prices as a great opportunity, especially with the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) in place.
“Crude oil prices are on the rise again after turning negative in April 2020. It is a great opportunity for us as a country. With the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) in place, there should be no excuses,” he stated.
He said the Federal Government has addressed the issue of enabling investment environment which was the setback of the industry, saying there is a high degree of certainty with regulatory and adminstrative frameworks.
Stressing that the government has concluded the 2020 marginal field bid round, he noted that analysts might seek reason for such a gigantic deal at the time of global energy transition from fossil fuels.
“The answer is simple; awarding the marginal fields gives Nigeria the opportunity to speed up its fossil fuel exploitation and make good use of the resources for the betterment of the country rather than abandon the huge oil and gas reserves in the ground.
“The enabling investment environment which has been the bane of the industry has been taken care of by provisions in the PIA. There is now a level of certainty for the regulatory, administrative and fiscal framework and the legitimate grievances of host communities most impacted by activities of the industry has been addressed by the Act,” he added.
