The former Senior Technical Adviser to the immediate
Minister of State for Petroleum, Timothy Okon, has stated that a new regulation
will be unveiled in June this year to address issues bordering on gas pricing,
monopoly and licensing.
Okon at a gas interactive session with the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria
(MAN) Gas Group in Lagos, said the bill will also address structural issues in
the industry.
Earlier, the Director General, MAN, Segun Kadir, represented by the Director,
Corporate Communications, MAN, Ambrose Oruche, expressed deep concerns over the
high price of gas offered to manufacturers in the country, saying the sector is
already beset with myriads of challenges.
In his words, “We have cried out to the government and
nothing yet has been done so far. We have a situation where gas franchises are
threatening further increase in the price of gas. We have to put a stop to
this. We need a new regulation that would regulate the gas industry.”
He also called on the need for manufacturers to be classified as a strategic
industry under the gas master plan, urging the government through the Ministry
of the Petroleum Resources to suspend ant gas increase.
He stated that many jobs would be threatened if the price of gas is increased,
adding that some manufacturing outfits have already closed shops due to the harsh
operating environment in the country.
“After conducting a survey, we observed that the energy cost
accounts for over 40 per cent of the cost of production. This is disheartening,
so any gas price increase would only impact negatively on our operations,” he
added.
Okon, on his part, said: “In the lobby contemplated that will be passed in
June, monopolies will not be allowed, because a new regulator not DPR, but a
new entity will regulate and license the activities of distribution companies
and once that law comes into effect, it would address the structural issues in
the industry, such as price fixing. All these things are in the proposed
relegation just that it has not been promulgated. What this would do is to take
us back to willing buyer-willing seller arrangement.
“We do not anticipate the government fixing the price of gas. It is not the role of the State, but what we expect is that commercially derived pricing arrangement such as the Export Parity Price (EPP) which is not set by government will form the basis of the pricing while the pricing formula will now be in the regulation.”
According to him, when formulated, the gas pricing
regulation would be one of the first to come out of the regulation.
“The principle legislation should be passed in June of this year which the
first will be the gas pricing regulation that will come out of the new
regulation. It will not be fixing the price of gas; its intention is to make
sure pricing is market-based and not imposed by monopoly. It will check market
abuse and it would allow you to have market-based contracts where prices will
reflect in the markets.”
He said differential pricing is at the heart of aggregation, stressing that
without differential pricing, gas suppliers will have difficulties to supply
gas, there will be a preference to supply gas only to certain sectors and we
want to ensure that those who need gas get it at a market-based price and not a
price to be fixed. The Guardian