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Oil bill suffers more delay as communities demand more revenue share

Oil bill suffers more delay as communities demand more revenue share

 

A week before the latest deadline to pass Nigeria’s long-awaited oil overhaul bill, demands for big changes, including from  leaders seeking an increased share of revenues, could push its passage into late this year, four sources told Reuters.

 

The last-minute wrangling over the package – which aims to modernise Nigeria’s petroleum  and attract a shrinking pool of global fossil fuel  dollars – has disappointed those who hoped the political alignment of the presidency and  would break the cycle of failure that has stalked overhaul efforts for 20 years.

 

Among the changes are proposals to publicly sell shares in state oil company National Nigerian Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and implement market-based prices for gas to power.

At acrimonious meetings in the nation’s , Abuja, this week,  leaders revived demands to increase their share of petroleum produced in their regions to 10% – up from 2.5 per cent.

 with oil exploration in northern Nigeria’s Lake Chad region and the middle of the country are also seeking a greater share of oil revenues.

 goes on recess in early July, so if the package is not approved within the next two weeks, it cannot become  until September.

 

Lagos-based consultancy Financial Derivatives Company Limited said the failure to pass an oil overhaul has cost some $15 billion annually in lost .

“With the global shift from fossil fuels to renewable forms of energy picking up pace, the passage of the (overhaul) may just be too little too late,” FDC wrote. “It is unlikely that Nigeria will be able to make up for either the lost time or the lost .”

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