THE Senate has said it will summon the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) over the lack of funds to explore and develop new frontier acreages.
The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe, disclosed this to journalists after a closed-door session with the Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, (NUPRC), Gbenga Komolafe and his team.
The Petroleum Industry Act 2021 introduced the Frontier Exploration Fund to support exploration and development in Nigeria’s frontier acreages
These areas include regions like Anambra, Dahomey, Bida, Sokoto, Chad, and Benue where hydrocarbon exploration is yet to occur or remains undeveloped.
The PIA further stated that the Fund, constituting 30% of NNPC’s “profit oil and profit gas” from various contracts, will finance exploration and development activities in these frontier acreages.
But Senator Jarigbe led committee, after closed door meeting with NUPRC team , said, “We received a briefing from the CEO of NUPRC and his team on the activities of the agency.
“Section 9 subsection 4 and 5 provides that the NUPRC should have a Frontier Acreages an exco account for the exploration and development of frontier acreages and that fund is subject to the approval of the National Assembly.
“Also, section 22 subsection 1 of the Petroleum Industrial Act also provides that the National Assembly oversights the budget and expenditure of the NUPRC.
“So, we had to interact with the commission on those issues and we discovered that there is no fund raised from 30 percent oil profit and 30 percent gas profit as provided for in Section 9 subsection 4 of the PIA”
The lawmakers during the interactive session, noted that the issue of gas in the economy was becoming very important and inexplicable, like a resource that can sustain a nation.
They further noted that scientifically, the world is gravitating towards gas.
Earlier, the CEO OF NUPRC buttressed the lawmakers that “Gas is very crucial in the revenue generation of our country, just like oil, it is equally very critical.
“Aside from the fact that gas has been recognised as a transition fuel and for us in the commission, we focus on rapping up our gas production”, he said .