The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has been commended for its unprecedented consultation with stakeholders towards the successful implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021.
Mr Olumide Adeosun, Chairman, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), made the commendation in a statement on Monday in Lagos.
The law provides opportunity for purposeful investment into the development of oil and gas resources by providing clear and simple fiscal terms that would guarantee reasonable investors margin.
Adeosun said the PIA was an excellent piece of legislation which was extremely well thought through.
According to him, the PIA has given the petroleum downstream industry a regulator, the NMDPRA, also known as the Authority.
“The Authority had taken a while to rebuild and restructure, being the outcome of the defunct merged organisations (Department of Petroleum Resources, Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency and the Petroleum Equalisation Fund}, which were institutions with various and different expertise.
“The Authority has looked inward these organisations for experts in the various fields but has also gone external to work with experts and consultants.
” Importantly, we now have an era of consultation with the industry that is unprecedented,” he said.
Adeosun noted that the implementation of the PIA was taking a bit longer than expected but was not necessarily a bad thing.
“The president postponed the implementation of free market pricing, which has caused a slowdown with respect to benefits expected from free competitive open market pricing, such as new investments and subsidy removal,” he said.
Recall that Mr Farouk Ahmed, the Authority Chief Executive, NMDPRA, had recently assured industry stakeholders of efforts being made in the implementation of the PIA.
Ahmed said it was being done collectively by the Authority and other key industry players through collaboration, consultations, consistency, compliance and enforcement.
He said it was aimed at achieving a robust, competitive, transparent, predictable and profitable oil and gas industry.
