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LAGOS, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Nigeria's President Muhammadu
Buhari signed a bill into law on Monday that amends legislation
on agreements related to offshore oil production, according to
the president's Twitter account.
The bill changes the 1993 Deep Offshore and Inland Basin
Production Sharing Contract to add two new revenue streams. One
is a flat 10% royalty on all projects over 200 meters deep and
the other is a 7.5% royalty on frontier and inland basins.
While offshore oil projects are among the most challenging
for companies to develop, they have helped boost oil output in
the last few years from Nigeria, Africa's top crude producer.
The measures are designed to add about $1.5 billion to
government coffers in just two years but an oil industry group
warned they would render billions in planned offshore oil
investments unprofitable and cut nearly 30% from potential
offshore output.
"This is a landmark moment for Nigeria," Buhari said in a
tweet in which he also thanked lawmakers for cooperating in what
he called a long overdue amendment.
The measure passed through the legislature in a few weeks,
an unusually quick pace for a country that has had a petroleum
industry bill pending for more than a decade.