Marketers oppose NMDPRA's decommissioning rule

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Barbara Bako, Abuja.

Marketers and Retail outlet owners have objected to new provisions on filling station decommissioning and abandonment in the draft 2025 Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Safety and Environmental Regulations proposed by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).

The concerns emerged during a stakeholders’ consultation forum organised by the Authority as part of its regulatory mandate under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021.

The forum, which was held on Tuesday in Abuja, aimed to gather industry input ahead of finalising the consolidated safety and environmental regulations.

NMDPRA’s Secretary and Legal Adviser, Dr. Joseph Tolurushe, told journalists on the sidelines of the forum that some stakeholders want the regulations to focus exclusively on midstream facilities, excluding downstream assets such as filling stations.

“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,” Tolurushe said.

“They are looking at it. Take, for example, a filling station. Some of them come and say, Oh, don’t take it to the government filling station. If we are going to abandon the filling station, there should be a way you abandon it properly, so that there’s no contamination of our groundwater. So, in those areas, we will know how to treat the law, to take care of all those areas of concern,” he added.

The legal adviser explained that the new regulation merges three existing documents; he Borders of Safety Regulations, Abandonment and Decommissioning Regulations, and Environmental Regulations into a single, comprehensive framework in line with international best practices.

The goal, according to him, is to simplify compliance and make the regulatory environment more business-friendly.

Tolurushe said, “So that it will be easy to refer to, so that it will also be easy to do business. Recall that we previously consolidated about ten regulations into one. You know, so that we don’t have a plethora of regulations in the industry.”

He added that countries such as Norway operate with far fewer regulations in the sector and that Nigeria’s regulatory overhaul reflects a broader shift toward self-regulation.

“So, in reviewing it, we have consolidated the three regulations into one… In some jurisdictions, such as Norway, we found that they have only one or two regulations that govern their upstream activity. So, it is also to tell you, we are trying to move into an era of self-regulation,” he added.

In his opening remarks, the Authority Chief Executive, Engr. Farouk Ahmed FNSE, who was represented by Mr. Ogbugo K. Ukoha, Executive Director of Distribution Systems, Storage and Retailing Infrastructure, said the consultation was in line with Section 216 of the PIA, which requires stakeholder engagement before finalising any regulation under the Act.

“Section 33 of the PIA is to the effect that the Authority may make regulations for all activities relating to midstream and downstream petroleum operations in Nigeria,” Ukoha stated.

He explained that the consolidation of the three regulations is designed to reduce complexities in implementation, streamline health, safety, and environmental compliance including decommissioning and abandonment and eliminate inconsistencies.

The draft regulations, Ukoha said, are also meant to be read alongside other key frameworks, including the Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Fees Regulations, 2024, which outline applicable fees for sector activities.

“Rest assured that the Authority has taken note of the feedback with a view to incorporating same, where applicable, into the proposed Safety and Environmental Regulations,” he assured participants at the event.