…Demand Inclusion of NLC, TUC on NNPC Board
THE Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) have faulted the 10% tax rate proposed for offshore operations in the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) currently before the National Assembly.
The two oil and gas sector unions, in a joint memorandum on the Petroleum Industry Bill which has been submitted to the Ad Hoc Committee on PIB for public hearing on the bill, are instead calling for a lower tax rate of 7.5%.
The unions, while stating that the 10% rate is too high for deep offshore operations also argued that a lower tax rate will attract more investments in the deep offshore terrain.
“New licences and leases in deep offshore should have a lower hydrocarbon tax rate than old leases to attract more investments in deep offshore terrain,” the unions argued in joint memorandum while proposing a single regulatory model by establishing the “Nigerian Petroleum Regulatory Commission” to regulate upstream, midstream and downstream petroleum operations.
According to NUPENG and PENGASSAN, under the regulatory model, all functions of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) and Petroleum Equalisation Fund are to be taken over by the proposed “Nigerian Petroleum Regulatory Commission.”
The unions also called for the inclusion of the Trade Union of Nigeria, Nigerian Labour Union, NUPENG and PENGASSAN to the board of NNPC.
