The petroleum industry bill (PIB) drawn up by legislators in Nigeria will help to transform local content policy in the country, according to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp (NNPC).

In a lecture published in the Nigerian Compass, Shehu Ladan, the new group managing director of the company, explained that the bill contains provisions to transform local content requirements with reforms in areas such as employment and personnel, training, research and development.

"With regards to national content, the PIB establishes linkages between field development work plans, midstream and downstream project approvals with national content requirements," he said, adding that new legislation will complement existing content laws.

The PIB was born from a report published by the Oil and Gas Reform Implementation Committee which was subsequently reviewed and reformed by the federal government to address critical shortfalls in the national oil and gas industry in areas such as governance, fiscal provisions and land management, as well as local content.

Getenergy for Ghana & West Africa, September 2010 - Accra