The Senate has approved the establishment of a Petroleum Host Community (PHC) Fund. The fund, as contained in the report of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) currently under consideration at the House of Representatives, is meant to be utilised for the development of the economic and social infrastructure of the communities within the petroleum producing area. Every company involved in upstream or downstream Petroleum operations, or both, shall remit 7.5 per cent of their net profit on a monthly basis to the the fund, Clause 18 says. The contribution by the participating oil companies, was contested, and eventually reduced from 10 to 7.5 per cent. As stated by the lawmakers, the likelihood of petroleum resources host communities increasing in the near future was high, as a result, consideration should be all encompassing. At the continuation of the debate of the report yesterday, 101 clauses were considered by the lawmakers. Clause 2 that was refered to a selected panel was voted on, after it was amended. The clause that was about ownership of petroleum resources, stated that “the entire property and control of all Petroleum, under or upon any land, its territorial waters, or which forms part of its continental shelf and the Exclusive economic zone, is vested in the Government of the Federation.” The lawmakers were in agreement that the subject was well taken care of by the Constitution and need not be repeated by the Bill. However agreement could not be reached on the powers of the Minister during the period of a state of emergency as contained in clause 7. It was suspended again, while the Minority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, as well as the Minority Whip, Samson Osagie and a couple of lawmakers were asked to further work on it and report back next Tuesday. The membership of the Board of Upstream Petroleum Inspectorate as contained in clause 77 was also reduced from 12 to seven.clause 32, however, was amended to ensure that the expenditures of the Inspectorate from unappropriated funds were “subject to appropriation by the National Assembly”. Clause 33 allows the Board to accept gifts that would not compromise its operations, but members can not accept for their personal use.