Rising crude oil prices, opportunity for Nigeria —Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has said the rising crude prices present a great opportunity for Nigeria, especially with the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).

The Nigerian News Agency reports that Buhari had this to say on Monday in Abuja, declaring the 5th Nigerian International Energy Summit (NIES) open.

The theme of the summit is: “Revitalize the Industry: “Fuels of the Future and Energy Transition”.

World crude oil prices rose to US$104 a barrel on Monday following ongoing hostilities between Russia and Ukraine.

On behalf of Sylva, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, the president pointed out that the summit had been of great value in terms of policy input for the government and business development resources for the private sector.

He said: “Crude oil prices are rising again after turning negative in April 2020. It is a great opportunity for us as a country.

“With the PIA in place, there should be no excuses. The conducive investment environment that has been the bane of the industry has been taken care of by the PIA.

“Now there is a level of certainty

for the regulatory, administrative and fiscal framework and the legitimate complaints of the most impacted host communities the industry has been addressed”.

Buhari said that to demonstrate the government’s seriousness, the administration wasted no time in implementing PIA.

“We moved quickly and scrapped the existing agencies and replaced them with new We have also inaugurated their new Chief Executives.

“We also secured the incorporation of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) under the Companies and Allied Affairs Act (CAMA).

“The NNPCL is now a limited liability company and our goal is to make it the largest, most capitalized and most profitable company in all of Africa,” he said.

The president further told the summit that Nigeria had adopted gas as its transition fuel as the world moves towards cleaner energy sources.

He said this informed the administration’s Gas Decade Initiative, which aims to transform Nigeria into a gas-based industrialized nation through an enhanced and accelerated gas revolution.

Buhari said: “We will ensure further optimal exploitation and utilization of the country’s vast natural gas resources.

“Given the country’s potential of approximately 600 trillion cubic feet, natural gas has enormous potential to diversify and grow Nigeria’s economy.

“We are fully aware that the energy transition raises the bar in terms of environmental, social and governance demands.

“We don’t have to panic. We are already building blocks and bricks that will ensure a smooth energy transition as the country joins the race for net-zero carbon emissions.”

The President said Nigeria was poised to meet global demand for cleaner energy sources with the enactment of PIAs, the successful completion of the 2020 Marginal Oil Fields bidding round and the Gas Decade initiative.

“We look forward to deliberating on the strategy document from this summit and incorporating critical parts of it into government policies when necessary,” he said.

World energy leaders are discussing the way forward and strategies for managing Africa’s huge energy resources at the summit.

The summit, which opened on Monday, will end on March 3.