The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) said it has issued seven new regulations aimed at providing a regulatory environment that assures efficiency, predictability, clarity and effectiveness to the Nigerian oil and gas sector.
NUPRC Chief Executive Gbenga Komolafe disclosed this in a statement on Thursday.
Mr Komolafe said the new regulations were signed and issued at the commission’s headquarters in a ceremony witnessed by Ogonnaya Orji, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI) on Thursday.
He said these bring to twelve (12) the number of regulations so far concluded and issued by the commission in line with its mandate as prescribed by the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), 2021.
“All the 12 regulations and others to be finalized soon would serve as the key regulatory tools to be deployed by the commission in the discharge of its statutory functions under the PIA regime.
“Eighteen regulations were initially identified as a priority. Issuing the regulations represents a significant milestone achievement for the commission in its continued stride towards the attainment of the goals of the PIA and the reformation of the upstream petroleum sector,” he said.
He listed the seven new regulations to include, the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum measurement regulations 2023, Production Curtailment and domestic crude oil supply obligation regulations 2023, Frontier basins exploration fund administration regulations 2023, and the Nigeria Upstream Decommissioning and abandonment regulations 2023.
Others are Significant crude oil and Gas discovery regulations 2023, Gas flaring, Venting and methane emission (Prevention of Waste and Pollution) regulations 2023 and the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Unitization regulations, 2023.
Gazetted Regulations
Mr Komolafe noted that five regulations were successfully gazetted into law between June and October 2022.
“All the regulations are revolutionary and aimed at providing a regulatory environment that assures efficiency, predictability, clarity, and effectiveness to the industry in the discharge of the commission’s mandate.
“The PIA 2021 empowers the Commission to make regulations which will give meaning and intent to the spirit of the Act. Consequently, the Commission, in fulfilment of this mandate, swung into action with the drafting of regulations of which five were initially gazette and published,” he said.
He noted that gazetting the twelve regulations demonstrates the commission’s commitment towards providing a business-enabling environment in the Nigerian upstream oil and gas industry space.
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“Our drive to promote clarity, trust and predictability in the industry has remained un-flinching as evident in the efforts deployed towards ensuring that regulations and key policies necessitated by the PIA are developed and gazetted expeditiously to enable alignment with the provisions of the PIA.
“The seven regulations signed today are part of the thirteen draft regulations that were presented for discussion during the first, second and third phases of our consultations with stakeholders between 2022 and 2023.
“It is worthy of note that inputs of stakeholders from the various engagements were considered in the drafting of the regulations.
“The drafts were subsequently forwarded to the Attorney general of the federation and minister of Justice for vetting, legislative standardization, and approval.
“It is pertinent to note that the process of formulating the above regulations has been a rigorous and strenuous exercise characterised by several challenges at different stages of the regulation-making process,” he said.
Nevertheless, he said, the outcome of the process is a result of critical thinking, vigorous engagements with the industry stakeholders, careful evaluation, and hard work by the commission’s regulation development team, whose efforts are a testament to the commission’s continually strive towards excellence in the discharge of its functions.
“I also charge them to re-double their ongoing efforts to speedily conclude work on the other regulations that they are currently working on as well as the others that have been identified and are being developed.
“The commission assures the industry of its continued dedication to develop and issue policies that will create an enabling environment for growth and more investments in the Nigerian upstream oil and gas sector,” he said.
