Business
Nigeria’s Oando Double Oil Output To 100,000bpd Over Five Years
Nigerian energy firm Oando Plc plans to increase its oil production capacity to 100,000 barrels per day over the next five years after completing the acquisition of ConocoPhillips’ Nigerian assets for $1.5 billion in July.
Oando Chief Executive Wale Tinubu said in a statement on Tuesday that production capacity was currently 42,500 bpd and that the company would grow through future acquisitions as it seeks to increase market share in Africa’s top oil exporter.
House speaker, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, on Tuesday, 16 September 2014 gave the Hon Ishaka Bawa-led Ad-hoc Committee on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) a 21-day ultimatum to submit a report. Senate president David Mark also assured Nigerians last week that the seventh assembly will pass the bill before it winds down next year. These assurances provide the optimist a new straw to hold on to.
The idea of the PIB began in 2007 following the recommendations of a Presidential Committee set up to carry out oil and gas sector reforms in the country. The reforms were expected to form the nucleus of Nigeria’s aspiration to become one of the most industrialised nations in the world by the year 2020.
The promising yet problematic PIB was first introduced to the National Assembly in 2009. Since then it has suffered a number of setbacks. The delays have been on account of diverse interests scrutinising its provisions. Amongst these are the interests of legislators from the country’s North pitted against those of their Southern counterparts.
The bill is meant to change everything from fiscal terms to overhauling the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) but its comprehensive nature has caused years of disputes between federal lawmakers, oil ministry/presidency and oil majors.