PENGASSAN: Frequent Alterations to PIA May Erode Investors’ Confidence
• Urges support for local refining, workers’ welfare
• TotalEnergies: Nigeria needs to turn oil reforms into bankable projects
Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja and Peter Uzoho in Lagos
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) yesterday cautioned against subjecting the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) to frequent alterations, saying that such measures may have negative impact on efforts to attract fresh investments into the country’s oil and gas industry.
It cited the removal of some fiscal provisions and moving them to the Nigeria Revenue Act, describing the development as appalling and capable of eroding investors’ confidence in the sector.
The association also said serious consideration should be given to efforts at promoting local refining of products and protection of interests and welfare of workers in the oil and gas industry.
PENGASSAN President, Festus Osifo, who spoke yesterday, at the 5th Labour and Energy Summit in Abuja, faulted the use of executive orders by the federal government to amend provisions of the petroleum law.
The PIA was passed in 2021 by the National Assembly and signed into law on August 16, 2021.
The new law affected the legal, fiscal, and regulatory framework of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector and led to the creation of a commercialised limited liability company (NNPC Ltd) out of the old Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
Osifo said the capital-intensive nature of the oil and gas industry makes it necessary for government to exercise caution in tinkering with the laws governing the sector.
Osifo said rather than instill confidence or promote stability, frequent alterations “amplify uncertainty and disruption in the sector”.
“Host-communities need confidence. Governments need sustainable revenues. Nigerians need an industry that translates our enormous hydrocarbon resources into economic prosperity.
“For this to happen, our regulatory environment must be predictable, transparent, efficient and fair to all. The PIA of 2021 represented a significant milestone after decades of attempts to reform the industry.
“Five years into its implementation, however, we have seen considerable alterations to the framework, including the removal of some fiscal provisions and their movement to the Nigeria Revenue Act, as well as the use of an executive order to amend provisions of the law,” Osifo lamented.
The PENGASSAN President urged government to implement policies that support local refining of petroleum products, including expansion of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) should be encouraged.
Osifo said two principal petroleum regulators – the NUPRC for the upstream operations and the NMDPRA for the midstream and downstream – currently exist under the PIA, alongside several other federal and state institutions, whose statutory responsibilities intersect with oil and gas operations.
He said the main challenge was not in the number of institutions, but their efficiency in the delivery of their mandates.
“When responsibilities overlap, operators should not be subjected to repetitive approvals, multiple inspections or conflicting directives. Regulation must provide oversight without creating avoidable due decreases.
“Regulation should never become an obstacle to investment, but Nigeria should investment become an excuse for weak standards.
“There must be a balance. As an association, we remain particularly concerned about the human consequences of regulatory and commercial decisions,” he said.
Osifo also said serious consideration should be given to protection of interests and welfare of workers in the oil and gas industry.
“Licencing and assets may change hands, but workers are not commodities to be discarded at will. When major acquisitions and divestments occur, jobs are crude benefits. Pensions, collective bargaining agreements and other established life of workers must be protected,” he said.
Osifo cautioned against abuse of expatriate quota provision in the petroleum sector, adding that such should not become a mechanism for replacing qualified Nigerians with foreign personnel in jobs for which local capacity exists.
According to him, the Nigerian Content Framework requires succession plans, understudies and deliberate naturalisation of expatriate positions.
He said the federal government must ensure that relevant legislations and policies guiding operations in the oil and gas sector especially those dealing with local content are adhered to by stakeholders.
“These provisions must be enforced. Every expatriate engaged should ultimately leave behind greater Nigerian capacity. We cannot breach local content in procurement while neglecting local content in employment and human capital development.
“Our regulators must therefore work with us and the operators to ensure that the expatriate workers approvals are justified, monitored and tied to measurable knowledge transfer.
“Another challenge is the length of some approval processes. Capital is mobile and investors will naturally gravitate towards jurisdictions where there are clarity and efficiency so our process must be clear and our systems must be efficient.
“Nigeria cannot afford processes that unnecessarily delay new development plans, final investment decisions and other decisions capable of increasing production. At the same time, speed must never come at the expense of proper overtime. As I said earlier, there must always be a balance.
“What we require is not weak regulations. What we need is smarter regulations. Regulations that understand commercial realities, embrace technology and eliminate unnecessary duplication.
“All operators are accountable and give investors confidence that the rules will not suddenly change midway through the game.
“However, good regulations on paper cannot transform an industry without enforcement. Health and safety, environment protection, local content, good labour practises and operational integrity must be consistently enforced.
“The life of a Nigerian worker must never become the price we pay for increased production. Every worker who leaves home desires to return safely to his or her family. Nigeria possesses enormous crude and gas resources, yet our citizens and industry continue to struggle with energy availability and affordability,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Country Chair and Managing Director of TotalEnergies EP Nigeria Limited, Mr. Matthieu Bouyer, has said Nigeria’s oil and gas industry must move beyond potential and convert ongoing reforms into concrete projects, production growth and long-term value for the country.
Bouyer stated this yesterday in Abuja at the ongoing 5th PENGASSAN Energy and Labour Summit (PEALS) 2026, with the theme: “Strengthening Regulatory Frameworks as a Catalyst for Stability and Growth in Nigeria’s Oil and Gas Industry.”
He noted that Nigeria has the resources, talent, industrial history, entrepreneurship and energy demand required to remain a major energy country, but warned that the real test was execution.
His keynote centred on : “Removing Barriers to Business Growth in Nigeria’s Oil and Gas Industry: TotalEnergies as a Case Study of E&P Expansion Amid Bureaucratic Bottlenecks and Regulatory Uncertainties.”
Bouyer added that gas resources should be converted into power, liquefied natural gas (LNG), industrial growth and exports, while reforms must translate into stronger investor confidence.
According to him, Nigeria does not lack potential but the real challenge is conversion.
He added that barriers that slow down projects do not affect companies alone, but also national revenue, jobs, local content, host communities, workers and the confidence of future investors.
The TotalEnergies chief executive said stability remained the first condition for growth in the sector.
He noted that government creates stability through clear policy and effective regulation; regulators through predictable implementation; operators through disciplined investment and safe operations; labour through constructive engagement and industrial harmony; and communities through trust and shared responsibility.
He said industrial harmony was more than a labour matter, calling it “a business enabler” that supports safety, production, investment and people development.
“If Nigeria wants long-term jobs. it must create the conditions for long-term projects, a competitive industry and a stable environment in which investors, workers and communities can see a future”, Bouyer stated.
He pointed out that Nigeria now competes with other jurisdictions for global capital, adding that investors compare fiscal terms, regulatory stability, execution timelines, security, emissions intensity, cost structure and the probability of delivery before committing funds.
He said recent reforms, including the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), fiscal incentives for non-associated gas and deepwater, measures to reduce contracting timelines, and efforts to improve cost competitiveness, showed that government recognised the need to attract investment and accelerate execution.
The TotalEnergies leader also pointed to recent licensing rounds in 2024 and 2025 as important milestones in reopening exploration and attracting capital, describing exploration as “the renewal engine” of the industry.
Without exploration, he said, resources decline, and future production, investment, employment and relevance are affected.
For TotalEnergies, Bouyer said Nigeria remained strategic and “home,” noting that the company has been present in the country since 1956 and that the company’s strategy was to focus on operated assets, where it could apply its technical superiority consistently, drive safety, operational excellence, emissions reduction and project execution, and create value for Nigeria, partners and stakeholders.
“In 2024, TotalEnergies and our partner, NNPC Limited, took FID on the Ubeta gas development,” he said, adding that the project showed what could happen when policy, partnership and project maturity came together.
“Reform becomes real when it unlocks projects”, he said.
On gas, Bouyer said the resource remained central to Nigeria’s future because it could support power generation, industry, domestic energy access, LNG exports and lower-emission production growth.
But he stressed that gas projects required infrastructure, bankable contracts, credible offtake, payment discipline, timely approvals and commercial frameworks capable of attracting long-cycle investment.
He also linked emissions reduction to value creation, saying lower flaring, gas recovery, methane reduction and better measurement could preserve molecules for domestic use, export or integration into the gas value chain.
According to him, energy development and environmental responsibility should not be seen as competing priorities, as both can contribute to value creation for Nigeria.
The TotalEnergies MD said the company became the first E&P operator in Nigeria to eliminate routine flaring across all operated assets at the end of 2023.
He added that TotalEnergies was working with NNPC Limited on AUSEA, a drone-based technology for high-precision methane and CO₂ monitoring and had installed more than 2,500 sensors across its operated assets to support real-time methane leak detection and quicker action.
He commended PENGASSAN for creating a platform for dialogue among government, regulators, operators, investors, labour, host communities and other stakeholders.
He said the association represented skilled professionals whose work, discipline and institutional memory were central to the functioning of the industry, adding that PENGASSAN was “not outside the investment conversation” but a fundamental part of it.
