Oil giant, Total Nigeria has raised an alarm over the proposed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).
Total Nigeria in a memorandum submitted to the House Ad hoc committee on PIB, during a public hearing, said the revised version of the bill could make the country uncompetitive for investments.
According to the document sighted by DAILY POST, the oil company said the bill will penalize investors in the sector.
It would be recalled that Total Nigeria and other investors are running the Egina project.
The company stated that the proposed 10% tax on the deep offshore and the finance act recently passed by the National Assembly will further drive away investment in the sector.
“The investments made by Total and OML 130 partners will be excessively penalized by the new PIB as drafted today, particularly the recent Egina project which has been in production for around 2years. The proposed changes in the fiscal framework undermine our investment in Nigeria and are unfair and contrary to the spirit of the ‘contract’ between the FGN and the Egina investor group. Moreover, the bill will endanger the viability of further developments on the block.”
“The deep offshore fiscal terms combined with the harsh PSC2005 have failed to deliver any major new developments. Following the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contracts Amendment act, and the Finance Act passed in 2019 and 2020, Nigerian terms are even less competitive than other investment destinations in Africa where terms have recently been improved.”
