by Dr. Adeoye Adefulu & Lateef Bamidele
The apparently unending task of reforming Nigeria’s oil and gas industry which began in 2000 was finally laid to rest a year ago, when the President assented to the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 (“Act” or “PIA”) on August 16, 2021. The industry welcomed the new law with mixed feelings, many believed the Act should have been finalized twenty years earlier to protect the industry from decline.
Despite this mixed reaction, it was clear that the Act had come to stay, and it brought with it sweeping changes and reforms across the institutional, regulatory, environmental, and fiscal frameworks of the Nigerian oil and gas sector. As one would have expected the implementation of these reforms commenced almost immediately, albeit slowly.
On the first anniversary of the PIA, it is useful to take a examine some of the noteworthy events and reforms undertaken and what they mean for the industry.
Continue reading “Implementing the Petroleum Industry Act 2021: One Year After (Warning – Long Post)”