The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, says the government will soon inaugurate a task force that will ensure full implementation of the auto-gas initiative that will encourage the use of gas in cars.
According to him, the new push for gas is key to the economic development of the country.
Sylva made this known at a National Assembly Public Hearing organised by the Joint Committee on Gas Resources, Petroleum Resources, Upstream and Downstream, on Monday, in Abuja.
The government had in December 2020 rolled out autogas initiative to cushion the harsh economic effects of the deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry and convert vehicles from running on petrol to running on gas.
“In terms of domestic household usage, we are also pushing for penetration, especially in rural areas. The general idea is to make sure that gas is pushed to the fore in Nigeria, ” he said.
Sylva urged the National Assembly to live up to its promise of the passage of the PIB in April to help the growth of the oil and gas sector and the country at large.
READ ALSO: Seplat Paid $564.17 Million To Nigerian Govt In 2020
According to him, the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) currently before the National Assembly will resolve the issues under the Production Sharing Contracts (PSC) on gas.
He said that issues on gas terms was not captured under the PSC especially with the commercial aspect.
“Issues on gas terms was not captured in the PSC because at the time, the offshore was just a frontier territory, today, it is no longer frontier, it is a proven territory,” the minister said.
“There have been a lot of discussions on how we can change the terms, I believe that most of these issues will be addressed in the PIB, especially the issues around gas terms which we all believe were not properly captured in the document.”
In his remarks, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, said that in November 2019, the house resolved to take necessary action to achieve focused utilisation of abundant natural gas resources.
“The House appointed a joint committee made up of the committees on Gas Resources, Petroleum Resources (Downstream) and Petroleum Resources (Upstream) to engage with stakeholders, review statutes and make recommendations to the House of Representatives, and to the Federal Government,” he stated.
