Nigeria's planned oil law needs further 'review'

Former Nigerian petroleum resources minister Diezani Alison-Madueke, pictured in 2010. By Dieter Nagl (AFP/File)

ABUJA (AFP) - Nigeria's long-delayed law to overhaul of its oil sector will require further review before it is passed, a former petroleum minister said Wednesday, a move that could further hit investment.

Former petroleum resources minister Diezani Alison-Madueke told the Senate, as it screened her for a post in the next cabinet, that the bill needed more attention.

"The particular bill in front of you will need a certain amount of review because it does need to be looked at a little more," she said, without giving further details.

President Goodluck Jonathan's last administration had earlier this year pledged the bill would be passed before the end of last parliamentary session which wound up in early June.

The Petroleum Industry Bill is to provide for sweeping reforms in the 50-year-old oil and gas sector.

Uncertainty over the legislation, years in the making, has put a chill on investments in new projects in Nigeria, one of the world's largest oil producers, with energy firms unclear on what the new rules will be.

The overhaul is aimed at allowing Nigeria's government to collect more revenue from lucrative offshore projects as well as restructuring the state oil company, widely viewed as corrupt.

Nigeria's government argues that terms initially set for offshore projects were overly beneficial to international oil firms because they were aimed at encouraging investment in what was then a new area of development for the country.

It argues that now it is time for Nigerians to benefit more from such projects.

But the proposed legislation has gone through many different versions in recent years.

Nigeria, the world's eighth biggest oil exporter, relies on crude as its main foreign exchange earner.