To curb the high incidence of crude oil theft and help build comprehensive database/information of the country’s real-time crude oil production and exports, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) on Wednesday inaugurated two key technical teams to work towards establishing a metering infrastructure at all crude oil allocation or measurement points in the petroleum industry.
Last week, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, announced the approval oil theft: FEC approval by the Executive Council of the Federation (FEC) for the award of a $21million contract for the immediate metering of all the 187 crude oil flow stations located in the Niger Delta region.
The Minister said the NUPRC, which was mandated to award the contract, was given a six months (or 180 days) timeline to complete the project.
Pursuant to that project, the NUPRC on Wednesday inaugurated the “Audit of Upstream Measurement Equipment and Facilities in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry” and the “Advance Cargo Declaration Solution” projects teams.
Performing the inauguration in Abuja, the Commission Chief Executive, Gbenga Komolafe, described the exercise as a significant milestone in its commitment to transparency and progress in furtherance of its mandate as the technical and commercial regulator of the Upstream sector of the Nigeria oil and gas industry.
He said the two projects would strengthen the NUPRC’s regulatory oversight in the petroleum industry in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), 2021, to “ensure that upstream petroleum operations are carried out in a manner to minimise waste and achieve optimal government revenues”.
The CCE said in addition to the measures already established by
the Commission, the projects were part of its commitment to ensure the measurement and reporting of oil and production was regularly reviewed and improved upon to keep pace with the rapidly evolving industry.
The projects, he explained, would identify and resolve gaps in the crude oil production and export system, in terms of obsolete and non- serviceable measurement equipment at some allocation or measurement points in the industry, lack of a comprehensive database or information about all the installed measurement equipment in the industry, and lack of real-time production measurement across many locations.
When completed, he said the first project would establish a reliable and comprehensible baseline data for all measurement points, systems and measurement equipment.
Also, the project team would carry out a formal Gap Analysis for production, allocation and custody transfer measurement requirements, while proposing and implementing appropriate and targeted intervention actions to enhance production measurement, and flare metering, including recommendations to procure, install and commission new metering infrastructure.
The second project, which complements the other, the CCE said, would ensure the establishment of a robust system for the declaration and tracking of crude oil transportation and export from Nigeria.
When completed, the system would be able to monitor and account for the movement of crude oil within Nigeria from production to delivery points, while preventing disruptions, theft, and under-declaration of crude oil within Nigeria and at export terminals.
Besides, the system would establish a comprehensive database and control centre for monitoring and tracking crude oil exports from Nigeria, to ensure only certified production related to upstream crude oil operations are exported from Nigeria.
This, he noted, would ensure accurate accountability of hydrocarbons for calculating crude oil revenue accruable to the government and ensure real-time tracking, reconciliation, and reporting for crude oil exported to facilitate appropriate revenue billing and generation.
Members of the “Audit of Upstream Measurement Equipment and Facilities in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry” project team include the Deputy Director, Facilities Engineering & Optimization, Manuel Ibituroko; Manager, Facilities Engineering, Mohammed Sirajo;
Manager, Facilities Engineering, Ike Chidi, and the Principal Regulatory Officer, Bashir Shariff.
For “Advance Cargo Declaration Solution” project, members include
the Assistant Director, Crude Oil & Gas terminal Operations, Bello Shehu;
Manager, Petroleum Accounting, Abdulrahman Idris; the Deputy Manager, COTO PHC, Omeje A.Desmond;PPRO RO, COTO Warri, Dimkpa I. H., and representative of the National Data Reporsitory (NDR), Olatunji Babatunde.
The CCE said the teams, which would liaise with the contractor to ensure the fulfillment of the Commission’s specified obligations and monitoring the implementation of the projects, would be overseen by the Executive Commissioner, Development & Production, Engr. Enorense Amadasu, who would provide daily reports and feedback to him.
