Minister of State for Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva, has declared that the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) would enhance energy growth and sustainability in Nigeria.Speaking as a participant at a Ministerial Roundtable at the World Petroleum Congress (WPC), in Houston Texas, on Wednesday, Sylva said the passage of the law has created renewed interests in the Nigerian oil and gas business environment.

According to Sylva, “The Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) has been passed into law (now PIA 2021). This strengthens the legal, regulatory, fiscal and governance frameworks of the petroleum sector. PIA has enhanced the Nigerian petroleum industry’s reputation, provides the pathway to new investments, and consolidates our ability to play a significant role in meeting the world’s growing demand for energy.”

He noted further that “PIA will assist in increasing oil and gas production to provide clean and efficient energy; will supply world markets with a broad portfolio of energy options and support global endeavour to alleviate energy poverty in line with United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 7.”

The Minister added that “PIA proposes a fiscal regime that encourages investment in order to monetize existing reserves in the short to medium term and generous incentives to enable development, distribution, penetration and utilization of gas.”

He cited the declaration of the Decade of Gas, the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) pipeline, Nigeria/Morocco pipeline, Trans-Saharan pipeline and the Nigerian Gas Transportation Network Code as other enablers and initiatives which “support the realization of the full potential of the gas sector.

Sylva noted that although Nigeria was committed to Net-zero, the country will “still require fossil fuels, especially gas, as its baseload energy source to address energy poverty and power supply.”

“We have declared gas as our transition fuel, our pathway to net-zero carbon emission. This presents investment opportunities, given the oil and gas reserves which can be commercialised,” he explained.

Speaking on financing of hydrocarbon projects in Africa, the Minister said following huge divestments in oil and gas projects in the continent, it was urgent for African leaders to unite to create an energy bank that would act as the platform to support future investments in the sector.

Consequently, he told the global audience that the Nigerian government would champion the creation of an African Energy bank, adding that already, “discussion have commenced with Afrexim Bank to create an Energy Bank which would finance fossil fuel projects. This is necessitated by the international financial ecosystem’s stance on funding fossil projects.”