By Levinus Nwabughiogu-Abuja

For effective implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has drafted 7 regulations to guide its dealings with relevant stakeholders in the oil and gas industry.

The draft regulations included Acreage management (Drilling and Production) Regulations; Upstream Petroleum Environmental Regulations; Upstream Petroleum Environmental Remediation Fund Regulations; Upstream Petroleum Safety Regulations; Utilization Regulations; Upstream Petroleum Decommissioning and Abandonment and Regulations and Frontier Exploration Funds Regulations.

Speaking at the commencement of the second phase of a consultation meeting with the stakeholders in Abuja Monday, the Commission’s Head of Compliance and Enforcement, Dr. Joseph Tolorunse said the participants involved the host communities, OPTS, IPPG, World Bank, Oil and Gas Operators and all other stakeholders in the industry.

He said that the gathering was essentially to harness the inputs of the stakeholders on the matter.

“This process as part of the procedure for making regulations under the PA underscores the effort of the current administration at encouraging collaboration in rulemaking for effective implementation and sustainable compliance by all stakeholders to the Regulations.

“For theory and practice of administrative rule making has poignantly shown that if
the regulated entities are part of the process of regulations making, compliance to Regulations will be achieved by more than 90%.

“Therefore, what you are being invited to do in the next few days is to partner with the commission to formulate appropriate regulatory framework for the growth of the petroleum industry and rapid economic and social development of the country.

“Moreover, this forum serves as an avenue to listen to our stakeholders more, understand their views about our regulations and secure their buy- in of the Regulations, which ultimately determines our success of full implementation of the PIA. With this procedure of rulemaking, it is believed that consensus will be built, trust between the regulator and the regulated entities will improve and ultimately, the regulations will be easier to implement and sustained”, he said.

Similarly, the Commission’s chief executive, Engr. Gbenga Komolafe represented at the meeting by the Executive Director, Health, Safety and Environment, Captain John Tola said meeting was in compliance with section 216(4)(g) of the PIA.

“Our commitment to create an enabling environment for growth and investment in the Upstream Oil and Gas Industry in Nigeria has steered our focus towards working with all stakeholders. This can be seen in our efforts to ensure that regulations and key policies necessitated by the PIA are developed and gazzated timely so that industry operators can align their operations with the PIA provisions as quickly as possible”, he said.

The forum is expected to collate their inputs and take a position at the programme on Wednesday.