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By Camillus Eboh
ABUJA, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Nigeria's parliament will pass the
long-delayed Petroleum Industry Bill by the second quarter of
2021, Senate President Ahmed Lawan said during a parliamentary
session on Monday.
The measure, which is 20 years in the making, underpins
everything from oil exploration to gas pipelines and fuel
regulation and was sent by President Muhammadu Buhari to the
senate in September. It passed a first reading in both chambers
before the end of 2020. "This bill will be passed the second quarter of this year,"
Lawan said, adding that lawmakers were targeting April or May.
The head of Nigeria's state oil company said in June that
despite delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic the bill would be
passed by the end of 2020, marking the latest missed target in
two decades. The bill would change the structure of state oil company
NNPC, amend oil and gas taxes and revenue-sharing and create new
regulatory bodies, among other things, to make Nigeria's oil
sector more dynamic and efficient. The laws governing Nigeria's oil and gas exploration have
not been fully updated since the 1960s because of the
contentious nature of any change to oil taxes, the terms of
exploration, and revenue-sharing.