By Benjamin Orisemeke
Minister of state for petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, said President Muhammadu Buhari could assent to the Petroleum Industry Bill by June.
Over the years, the PIB has experienced several hick-ups.
Kachikwu said this in a press conference at the just concluded APPO Cape VII conference in Equatorial Guinea.
The Minister while saying that Dangote refinery is scheduled to go on stream in 2021 added that it was important that the four state-owned refineries became operational again.
He insisted that Nigeria will not back out of the OPEC production cuts saying that Nigeria is “committed as a country” to the cuts as it has brought stability to the oil prices, particularly when there are “lots of factors outside our control”.
Kachikwu expressed reservation on some production sharing contracts (PSCs) and joint ventures asserting that he would like to see private companies doing more in terms of local content development and ensuring the money made from hydrocarbons projects benefits the people of Nigeria, and vowed to “challenge” some of the PSCs and joint ventures which he did not think were mutually beneficial.
“I will consider a review of PSCs and [in regard to joint ventures] there is no government policy to sell NNPC interests,” he said.
He further said a cross-border exchange of ideas and technical transfer was important among African countries.
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