Signed by President Buhari on 16 August 2021, ending 21 years of failed Petroleum Industry Bills (first introduced 2008). The PIA repeals the Petroleum Act 1969 and the NNPC Act 1977 and restates — for the third time in Nigerian constitutional history, after the 1969 Petroleum Act and the Land Use Act 1978 — that the entire ownership and control of all petroleum in, under or upon any lands in Nigeria is vested in the Federal Government (s.1). This is the final extinguishment of any residual private mineral claim, including the corporate residue of the 99-year Royal Niger Company mineral royalty that had run out three years earlier on 31 December 1998.
Structurally the Act creates: (i) the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC); (ii) the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA); (iii) NNPC Limited — a CAMA company wholly owned by the Federation, with shares held by the Ministry of Finance Incorporated and the Ministry of Petroleum Incorporated — replacing the NNPC corporation of 1977. The fiscal regime introduces a Hydrocarbon Tax (HT) for crude and condensates and retains Companies Income Tax; new entrants migrate from the 85% Petroleum Profits Tax regime to a blended HT+CIT rate.
The most contested provision is the 3% Host Community Development Trust (s.240), funded by the operating expenditure of settlors, paid into a community-controlled trust. Niger Delta groups had demanded 10%. Conversion incentives (front-end tax credits) push licensees to surrender old OMLs for new Petroleum Mining Leases under PIA terms — but as of 2026 only a minority of majors have fully converted.