Nigeria’s government is breaking up a protracted all-encompassing 2012 Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) to overhaul the state sector, by closing loopholes that breed corruption, Reuters informed.
The state oil giant Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) will be split in two – rather than a series of units as envisaged by the stalled 2012 bill – including a National Oil Company that will be run on commercial lines and partly privatized.
The PIB’s section designing a new tax regime has been criticized by major international oil companies, and has stunted investment in the west African nation, particularly in deep-water oil and gas fields.
NNPC’s Managing Director, Emmanuel Kachikwu, had earlier endorsed a proposal to split the PIB into parts to avoid further delays in reforms, Bloomberg reported.
