FG still targets US$30 bn China oil deals

Nigeria has set its sights on making multibillion-dollar oil deals with China amid peace moves with militants.

Hundreds of militants have laid down their weapons in exchange for a pardon and a job.

The national Assembly is tinkering with the controversial Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) conceived to alter outdated fiscal arrangements that govern industry operations by crafting new money-making changes that would position the Nigerian national Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to assume control of the industry.

Meanwhile, officials of the corporation are said to negotiate multibillion-dollar oil deals with China eve as government is brokering peace with gunmen whose attacks have cost the oil industry billions of dollars in terms of damage repairs, ransom payments and security measures.

Minister for State of Petroleum, Mr. Odein Ajumogobia, said the changes aimed at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation would address allegations of corruption and mismanagement.

"Some of the excesses we’ve seen in the industry are as a result of the lack of regulation," Ajumogobia said. "We are going to make sure that the petroleum directorate, for example, where the minister will reside, is going to be manned by professionals who understand the industry and have the experience."

Nigeria welcomes China’s recent interest in investing in Nigeria’s oil industry, Ajumogobia added.

The state-run China Daily reported in September that the China National Offshore Oil Corporation was negotiating with Nigeria over a $30 billion oil deal.

The talks are part of China’s oil-buying binge this year. Its government-controlled oil companies have closed or floated a slew of deals all over the world, including billion-dollar deals with Russian oil company Rosneft and Brazil’s Petrobras.

In offering few details about negotiations with China, Mr. Ajumogobia said the terms of the deal with China were still under negotiation, adding that the prospects of an agreement were bright.

"There is no deal yet," he said. "We all know the appetite of the Chinese for energy -- a huge population and so on -- and they’re looking for oil and Nigeria has a lot of it."

Meanwhile government has expressed hopes that the unsolicited amnesty offered Niger Delta militants would brighten the prospects of foreign direct investments in the Nigerian petroleum industry.

The militants had held down the country for years, attacking pipelines and cutting production by over 1 million barrels of oil a day. But many of those attacks might end, thanks to the amnesty deal under which the major factors in Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) surrendered to government troops.

MEND has demanded a fairer distribution of oil wealth in the Niger Delta and wants oil revenue reinvested in the region, instead of enriching those whom the militants consider corrupt politicians.

Last week, the group said it was calling off the truce, but there have not been renewed attacks.

Government hopes to leverage the fragile peace to reap big dollars from its oil industry, Ajumogobia said.