30 November 2011, Sweetcrude, LAGOS – The Nigerian government is to send a proposed law to regulate the country’s oil and gas industry to the national assembly a second time after a previous bill stalled.
“We will re-present the bill to ensure that the right and final version is given. We expect that we will move more quickly than now,” Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke said today at a conference in Lagos, Nigeria commercial hub.
The first bill sent to lawmakers in 2008, which sought to give Africa’s top oil producer more control and a greater share of hydrocarbons revenue, was opposed by international energy companies that said its fiscal terms would’ve made investing in the country’s deep-offshore fields unprofitable.
Communities in the Niger River delta, home to the country’s oil industry, also criticized the bill for not addressing their demands.
Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Total and Eni operate joint ventures with state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation that pump most of the country’s oil.
