A new report by PricewaterhouseCooper entitled, ‘The new nation builders: Creating the African national oil company of the future,’ has said that political involvement in the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation can lead to rapid turnover in key staff, creating difficulties in ability to execute strategic initiatives, The Punch reports.
Noting that a proposed new Petroleum Industry Bill was set to define the legal and regulatory framework for the Nigerian oil and gas industry, the PwC said its passage will create an enabling environment and encourage international oil companies to make additional investments in the sector, particularly in exploration.
The analysts said the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill, which was recently passed by the Senate, called for a restructuring of the business to split the NNPC’s regulatory and operational roles. According to the report, regulatory bodies should also be separated from the national oil company (NOC), and this will remove potential conflicts of interest and help encourage foreign investment through transparency.
The PwC said African countries that had for decades depended on their NOCs as a key source of government revenue would need to rethink business models to avoid being captive to a single energy source and to allow them to re-balance budgets.
