Gbenga Komolafe, chief executive of the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), says the commission is set to introduce a new metering regulation policy for the oil and gas sector.
Komolafe disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja at the 30th Anti-corruption situation room (ACSR) organized by HEDA Resource Centre.
He said the policy is to address the metering errors that have occurred in the oil and gas industry in the last sixty years.
“NUPRC has been in existence for about twenty-six months and we recognise the fact that as the regulator in the oil and gas industry, we have a critical role to play in ensuring accountability and transparency in the sector”, Komolafe said.
“You realise that at different times in the country, different numbers of crude production and export are being released. We recognised that those figures were not accurate and it is the revenues of the country that is being played with. Those figures have a serious effect on the royalties being paid to Nigeria.
According to him, multinational oil companies have cheated the country for sixty years following errors in metering and recording the volume of crude that leaves the country daily.
He said the commission conducted a study which revealed that about 40 per cent of crude oil losses has to do with metering inaccuracy and errors.
Komolafe said metering in the industry has been in the hands of foreign operators instead of the federal government.
The NUPRC chief executive said the commission initiated the need for the country to have a metering regulation for the industry to ensure transparency.
“For over six decades of oil exploration, we have never been in control of our metering, rather the metering has been under the control of the operators—which made the process not to be transparent.
“But I am happy to announce that the country can now celebrate a brand new metering regulation. For the first in Nigeria, I as a result of this unveil the regulation for the purpose of this event”.
He noted that the regulation represents a paradigm shift for the oil and gas industry which was made in line with section 216 of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2022.
