The Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Bill 2020 (SB 417) recently passed its second reading in the Senate and was subsequently referred to the Committee on Local Content for further consideration.

The bill seeks to amend existing sections of, and introduce new sections to, the extant Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act with the aim of aligning the act with industry best practices. The bill proposes to amend the extant act by:

  • giving Nigerian companies first consideration in the award of oil blocks, oil field licences and oil lifting licences and in all projects for which a contract is to be awarded in the Nigerian oil and gas industry, subject to the fulfilment of any conditions as may be specified by the minister of state for petroleum resources;
  • requiring operators which bid for a licence, permit or interest in the Nigerian oil and gas industry to submit a Nigerian content plan to the Content Development and Monitoring Board demonstrating their capacity to comply with the Nigerian content requirements;
  • authorising the minister of state for petroleum resources to review the minimum target level for Nigerian content set in the schedule where the Content Development and Monitoring Board considers the level to be beyond the capacity of Nigerian companies;
  • requiring operators to provide to the Content Development and Monitoring Board for approval the ads, pre-qualification criteria, technical bid documents, technical evaluation criteria and proposed bidders lists for any proposed project, contract, subcontract or purchase order relating to the Nigerian oil and gas industry which the operator estimates to be in excess of $1 million for contracts denominated in US dollars or N100 million for contracts denominated in naira; and
  • requiring operators to submit a list of all contracts, subcontracts and purchase orders exceeding $1 million for contracts denominated in US dollars or N100 million for contracts denominated in naira which will be bid for or executed in the upcoming quarter at least 30 days before the first day of each quarter.