From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
House of Representatives has resolved to investigate the level of compliance with Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) decommissioning and abandonment guidelines as enshrined in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), 2021.
It mandated its committees on petroleum resources (midstream), host communities, gas resources, petroleum resources (downstream) and petroleum resources (upstream) and environment to undertake the probe.
The joint committee is expected to report back to the House within four weeks for further legislative actions.
Also, the House urged the Minister of Petroleum Resources (Oil) and the chief executive officer of NUPRC to refrain from granting consent to divesting International Oil Companies (IOCs) until there is full compliance with the guidelines for decommissioning, as well as regulations made in accordance with the PIA.
This followed the adoption of a motion by Ikeagwuonu Ugochinyere on need to ensure IOCs involved in the divestment of assets in Niger Delta to comply with relevant guidelines.
Ugochinyere, in his motion, informed the House that Section 232 of the PIA stipulates that “the decommissioning and abandonment of petroleum wells, installations, structures, utilities, plants, and pipelines for petroleum operations on land and offshore shall be conducted in accordance with good international petroleum industry practice and guidelines,” issued by the NUPRC.
He said NUPRC, in the exercise of its powers, issued the Nigerian Upstream Decommissioning and Abandonment Regulations, 2023. The lawmaker added that the regulation, among other things, provided guidelines for decommissioning operations.
“Most of the international oil companies involved in petrol operations in the country are closing up their petroleum operations in Nigeria and relocating out of the country, without clearly following or complying with the decommissioning and abandonment guidelines as prescribed by NUPRC and enshrined in the PIA,” the lawmaker said.
Furthermore, Ugochinyere said most of the IOCs “are divesting their company assets in Nigeria and relocating out of the country, without clearly following or complying with the decommissioning and abandonment guidelines as prescribed by NUPRC and as enshrined in the PIA.”
He expressed concern that the Niger Delta “has suffered great environmental degradation for years, with farmlands and water bodies being destroyed, leaving the communities’ ecosystems completely milked and irreparably exploited,” owing to the activities of the IOCs.
The lawmaker expressed worry that if IOCs are given consent to divest their assets, “without ensuring their compliance with the guidelines and regulations put in place, the host communities will suffer irredeemably, and the companies taking over the assets of the IOCs will not be able to remedy the degradation.”