Date Published: 11/28/09

'NIGERIA's PROVEN OIL RSERVE NOT RELIABLE'

 * As Activist Picks Holes On Petroluem Industry Bill 

CLAIMS that Nigeria has about 35 billion barrels of proven oil reserve and another of five billion in development has been faulted by the Executive Director of Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group (NDEBUMOG), Mr. George-Hill Anthony.

Anthony who was speaking at a consultation workshop organised by Environmental Rights Action (ERA) in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, on Thursday also claimed that the challenges of Nigeria’s petroleum economy is complicated and enmeshed in the political instability and quest for the survival of the nation called Nigeria.

According to him, ''those  figures can  not be relied upon since the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has faulted the metering and situational reality about exact data associated with the extractive industries in Nigeria''.

Continuing, he said, ''at the moment, the oil sector accounts for about 95 percent of export revenues, 76 per cent of government revenues and about a third of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Similarly, Nigeria has an estimated 180 billion cubic feet of proven natural gas, making it the ninth largest concentration in the world''.

But government, in a seeming attempt to rescue the extractive sector from years of failure and abuses, is pushing for the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB). It is being said this is the first attempt by the Federal Government to consolidate all the current laws in the petroleum industry into one document, thus serving as an encompassing piece of legislation in an attempt to reform the industry.

However, the Bill has triggered concerns from key stakeholders and participants in the industry.