Nigeria's new oil law will not victimize foreign firms: NNPC CEO

July 30 - State-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp's CEO Austen Oniwon sought July 30 to reassure its foreign oil partners that new legislation aimed at overhauling Nigeria's oil and gas industry would not threaten their returns on investment.

Oniwon said in Abuja that rather than whittle down profits from their investments in the country's oil sector, the Petroleum Industry Bill would create a win-win situation for the companies, an NNPC statement said.

"The objective of the bill is to simplify the operations of the business and not to complicate it as is being speculated by some [international oil companies]," Oniwon told the French ambassador to Nigeria Jean-Michel Dumond, according to the statement.

"There is no effort in that bill to reduce the profitability of business rather NNPC and other IOCs will be operating on a level playing field. I can assure you that the bill will not victimize any IOC," Oniwon said.

He said the concerns raised by the companies had been reflected in the amended bill now before the National Assembly.

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Nigeria's oil minister Diezani Alison-Madueke told CNN on July 29 that parliament would pass the Petroleum Industry Bill within four to five weeks.

The bill envisages breaking up NNPC into profit-driven units with greater capacity to secure funding from international capital markets.

Its passage has been delayed by controversy over some provisions in the draft copy.

Nigeria's foreign partners, including Shell, ExxonMobil and Chevron, have expressed concerns that the bill will impose higher taxes and royalties.

Shell said recently that over $40 billion of investment in the Nigerian oil and gas industry was on hold because of the uncertainties over the PIB.

Nigeria's Department of Petroleum Resources, in a report released July 28, said a dip in exploration by oil companies resulted in the country's crude oil reserves falling 4.7% year on year to 31.81 billion barrels at the end of the second quarter.

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