PIBs: Legal Czars Set to Tackle Implementation

Scheduled for the highbrow Southern Sun Hotel, Ikoyi, the two-day retreat holding on October 26 and 27 is designed to interrogate key issues in the PIGB as well as other oil industry related bills still pending at the National Assembly. According to Ms. Raqeebah Oloko, the Managing Director of Bromshy Communications Limited – an oil and gas legal training consultancy firm – this year’s theme “Petroleum Industry Bill: Its implementation a panacea for sustainable growth and self reliance” was chosen to provide solutions to the numerous challenges threatening the future of the industry. Aside from sessions on petroleum industry governance, multinational companies, local oil and gas companies, community relations and legal outlook, other issues to be tackled include the high cost of production, price cuts, high demand of the United States shale crude, alternative sources of energy and introduction of electronic vehicles into the market among others. The retreat is also aimed to provide petroleum industry stakeholders with a platform to rethink the legal framework for the oil and gas industry, position the industry as a global player, and ensure sustainable local utilisation and effective management of the hydrocarbon resource. The stakeholders will devise a holistic approach in containing agitations by host communities and interest groups especially in the restive Niger Delta region as well as x-ray the fortunes and future of the oil and gas lawyer. According to Ms. Oloko, “We hope that at the end of the two-day event, we would be able to start changing our orientation in the way lawyers handle briefs and negotiate contracts for our clients.”]]>