By Adewale Sanyaolu
Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Authority (NMDPRA) and stakeholders in the oil and gas sector have agreed to work together to remove all bottlenecks hindering licensing and registration in the downstream sector.
The Authority Executive (ACE) of NMDPRA, Mr. Farouk Ahmed, stated this at the Stakeholder’ Engagement on Gas Utilisation in Nigeria organised by the agency for operators in the petroleum downstream sector in Lagos yesterday.
Ahmed while admitting that NMDPRA inherited some legacy challenges in licensing and registration of oil and gas businesses said NMDPA was doing everything possible to ensure that it creates a level playing field for all operators.
The NMDPRA boss said the process of transiting from a manual application process to full automation, no do doubt came with some teething problems which the agency is addressing through the creation of additional portals and its capacity in a bid to eliminate all human element in the licensing process.
He disclosed that while NMDPRA is doing all it could to ensure that licenses are granted within the shortest time frame, there are basic industry requirements that must be met and satisfied by operators.
He added that a situation whereby applications fall below the minimum standard, queries and flags will be raised.
The NMDPRA CEO who was represented by the Executive Director, Distribution Systems, Storage and Retailing Infrastructure, Mr. Ogbugo Ukoha, said requirements which included; distances, quality of equipment, firewalls and safety precaution must all be adhered to before a license to operate is granted.
He explained that the agency has just completed the gazetting of 12 regulations which involved the active participation of stakeholders on the licensing regime, appropriate sanction for violations and the requisite penalties.
Farouk warned that the oil and gas sector anywhere in the world is highly regulated and stakeholders should not reduce safety to naira and kobo because the attendant effect could be catastrophic.
The stakeholders, however, assured that it would collaborate with the regulator to ensure that all barriers prolonging the turnaround time for licensing and registration are jointly addressed.
The CEO said the engagement seeks to encourage large regulatory space but also to become aware of the comparative advantages between the different fuels, particularly gas which has been designated as Nigeria’s transition fuel.
According to him, the Federal Government has put in place various initiatives and policy framework including the National Gas Expansion Programme(NGEP) and the Decade of Gas Programme(DOGP) to ensure gas becomes the transition energy.
‘’The Petroleum Industry Act (2021) has also established within the Authority the Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure Fund to catalyze gas investments. These efforts are yielding significant results, yet more collaboration and interventions are needed to improve domestic gas utilization.
The Authority empowered by the PIA is poised to enable the growth of the industry. The twelve (12) regulations recently gazette will unlock the golden opportunities and signpost the pathway to energy security,’’.
The stakeholders while assuring that it would collaborate with the regulator to ensure that all barriers prolonging the turnaround time for licensing and registration are jointly addressed, urged it to ensure that the barriers to doing business in the oil and gas sector is urgently addressed.