Minister: Petroleum Industry Bill not scrapping NNPC

Timipre Sylva, minister of State for petroleum resources, has clarified that the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) will not scrap the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Sylva said this on Monday after a closed-door meeting with the leadership of the National Assembly on the PIB.

According to the minister, NNPC would be fully commercialised in the interest of Nigerians.

In his words: “I have heard a lot of noise about NNPC being scrapped but that is not envisaged by the bill at all.

“We’ve said that the NNPC will be commercialised in the interest of Nigerians.

“If we are talking about transforming the industry, the only new thing we are introducing is the development of the mainstream, which is the pipeline sector between the upstream and the downstream.

“This is because the framework was not there, has not really developed very well. We have adequately provided robustly, for the growth of the mainstream sector.

“The host community has the best deal but the details of the bill would be unfolded on the floor of the Senate.

“The Petroleum Equalization Fund and the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency will not exist in the same form that they exist today.”