Nigeria’s Oil Regulator Increases PIA Regulations To 12 Amid N16.25trn Loss

The Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Gbenga Komolafe, has signed seven new regulations into law to address production count challenges and other problems facing the oil and gas industry.

Prime Business Africa gathered the seven regulations, unveiled on Thursday, which increased the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 regulations to 12, are;

• Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Measurement Regulations 2023
• Nigeria Upstream Decommissioning and Abandonment Regulations 2023
• Production Curtailment and Domestic Crude Oil Supply Obligation Regulations 2023
• Significant crude oil and Gas discovery regulations 2023.
• Frontier Basins Exploration Fund Administration Regulations 2023
• Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Unitization Regulations 2023
• Gas Flaring, Venting and Methane Emission (Prevention of Waste and Pollution) Regulations 2023.

“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,” Komolafe said. 

NUPRC’s decision to set this regulation was to ensure that Nigeria has a grasp of the activities ongoing in the upstream sector, as the government is unable to state the exact crude produced in the country. The government has had to depend on estimation. 

During the ceremony to unveil the regulations, the Executive Secretary of Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Ogbonnaya Orji, said the government doesn’t have an idea of the exact crude oil production level. 

Orji said according to the NEITI report, in partnership with eight oil companies, Nigeria lost 619.7 million barrels of crude oil between 2009 and 2020, which amounts to $46.16 billion or N16.25 trillion when converted to Naira in the official exchange rate.

He said obtaining data for the report was frustrating, “over the years, that we produce yet we don’t have any idea how much exactly we are producing, because our metering and infrastructure are based on estimates, and we have continued to shout that we needed an agency that will stand strong, an ally, shoulder to shoulder with NEITI, to push this argument beyond limits, Orji said. 

The NEITI executive further stated that “this country had lost 619.7 million barrels of crude oil, and we only tracked eight companies that were willing to volunteer data. 619.7 million barrels were lost either stolen, or not accounted for. Amounting to $46.16 billion, which if you convert to Naira in official exchange rate, will give you N16.25 trillion that Nigeria lost by crude,” he stated.