The Senate on Thursday passed the Petroleum Industry Bill and approved that three per cent of profit made by oil firms should be shared to host communities.

The Senate on Thursday passed the Petroleum Industry Bill and approved that three per cent of profit made by oil firms should be shared to host communities.

The upper chamber passed the PIB, 2021 after the clause by clause consideration of the report of its joint committee on Petroleum Upstream, Downstream and Gas on PIB.

Lawmakers from the South-South geopolitical zone however protested against the three per cent approved for the host communities and called for five per cent.

The Senate had before then held a closed session with the Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, and the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mele Kyari.

The proposed law stipulated that all exploration of frontier basins would fall under the purview of the Upstream Regulatory Commission.