By Obas Esiedesa

THE Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC, yesterday disclosed that the Federal Government has gazetted regulations on the Host Community Development Trust. The trust was set up by the government, in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act, PIA, 2021.

Speaking at the second phase of consultations with stakeholders of regulations in Abuja, the commission’s Chief Executive, Engr. Gbenga Komolafe, said he expected the government’s approval for five other regulations.

Komolafe expressed the commitment of the commission to create an enabling environment for growth and investments in the upstream oil and gas industry in Nigeria.

“This can be seen in our efforts to ensure that regulations and key policies necessitated by the PIA are developed and gazetted timely so that the industry operators can align their operations with the PIA provisions as quickly as possible,’’ he said.

He listed the outstanding regulations to include those on royalty, domestic gas delivery obligations, Nigeria conversion and renewals (licence and leases), petroleum licensing round, and upstream petroleum fees and rents.

He explained that following the first phase of the consultation, the input of the “stakeholders from the engagement were incorporated, where necessary, in the draft regulations. Thereafter, the regulations were forwarded to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice for vetting, legislative standardization, and approval. I am happy to inform you that one of the regulations, the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Host Community Development Trust regulations has been gazetted while the remaining five have been finalized and ready for gazetting”.