Presidency to send PIB to National Assembly in weeks – Sylva

The Executive arm of government is to transmit to the much-anticipated Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, to the National Assembly in a couple of weeks, according to Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva.

Speaking in Abuja, Sylva disclosed that the executive was on the verge of concluding the PIB and would be sending the bill to the national assembly within the next couple of weeks.

Sylva further stated that the Federal Government was already engaging with members of the national assembly and other critical stakeholders to ensure speedy passage of the bill immediately it is submitted by the executive.

 “We are presently reaching the end of the PIB. It would be sent to the National Assembly in the next couple of weeks. We are waiting for the PIB to be passed so that we can move in our quest to cut production cost,” the minister said.

Also speaking, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, added that the PIB would make the NNPC commercially viable, profit-driven and help it in reducing its cost of production.

“Today, we do 80 per cent to 90 per cent of our business through automation. This company is changing for the better and it will remain an entity that all Nigerians will be proud of.”

Kyari also explained that the NNPC was adopting the Build, Operate and Transfer, BOT, model in the rehabilitation of the refineries because of the paucity of funds, adding that in the new model which would see the complete rehabilitation of the refineries by the middle of 2023, the NNPC would become a minority shareholder in the refineries.

SOURCE: sweetcrudereport.com