Photo caption: President/Chief Executive of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote
“It is just a guide. It is also just to state the procedure for achieving what the regulations have said. So it’s not going to be something that will be too cumbersome or there will be too many errors on them that we will not be able to fix.
“Some of them feel that, in the areas of the consolidated and abandonment regulations, some of them feel that, look, we should limit it to midstream facilities. We should not take it down to the downstream facilities.
“We are looking at it. I think, for example, of filling stations. Some of them are dissenting, saying the regulation should not come to abandoned filling stations. But we are saying if you are going to abandon the filling station, there should be a way you abandon it properly so that there’s no contamination of the groundwater. So, in those areas, we will know how to treat the law, to take care of all those areas of concern.”
Speaking in his welcome address, the NMDPRA Authority Chief Executive, Ahmed Farouk, explained that the proposed 2025 Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Safety and Environmental Regulations (Safety and Environmental Regulations) consolidate three of the Authority’s earlier published Regulations into a single document.
According to him, Section 33 of the Petroleum Industry Act provides for the effect that the Authority may make regulations for all activities relating to midstream and downstream petroleum operations in Nigeria.
He said the consolidation process aims to address the inconsistencies and complexities of navigating regulations, eliminate repetitions across multiple regulations, and engender further compliance with the PIA and Regulations.
The ACE represented by the executive director, Distribution System, Storage and Retailing Infrastructure, Ogbugo Ukoha, said, “The consolidation process has enabled the Authority to reduce the complexities of navigating and implementing the Authority’s numerous Regulations, streamline all activities concerning health, safety, and environmental operations, including decommissioning and abandonment in the midstream and downstream petroleum industry, eliminate inconsistencies and repetitions across multiple Regulations and engender further compliance with the PIA and Regulations made thereto.
“These Regulations are to be read in conjunction with other Regulations made by the Authority, including the Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Fees Regulations, 2024, which provide for the prescribed fees for midstream and downstream petroleum activities”, he said.
The meeting concluded with a resolve to deepen stakeholder engagement, adding that after collating feedback from the forum, the Authority would seek management approval, work with the Ministry of Justice for proper legal drafting, and then forward the regulation to the government press for gazetting, a process expected to take about a month.
