SON Seeks Partnership with New Agencies in Petroleum Sector

Peter Uzoho

The Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has said it wants to collaborate with the new regulatory agencies created by the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) towards improving standards of petroleum products and facilities in the country.

The new agencies yet to become operational are the National Upstream Regulatory Commission and the National Downstream and Midstream Regulatory Authority (NDMRA)

The Director General of SON, Mallam Farouk Salim, stated this yesterday in Lagos during a one-day workshop for energy reporters.
Salim added that he was looking forward to working with the executives of the new regulatory bodies on areas of overlapping interest to protect consumers of petroleum products.

He said the agency was also looking for areas of collaboration with relevant stakeholders in the industry to protect consumers of petroleum products against substandard and harmful products.

He added that the agency was deepening its partnership with the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and other regulatory agencies to raise the level of awareness of expiration date and requalification markings on Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinders.

He pointed out that the oil and gas industry was an area the agency was passionate about, saying there was the need for stakeholders in the industry to adhere strictly to standards to prevent avoidable destruction of lives and property.

Salim said, “We have over the years collaborated with the industry. We are looking forward to cooperating with the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) because there are so many areas of collaborations where we could partner, such as certification of vessels, checking of the quality of diesels, petroleum products and checking metres to dispense accurately.”

“These are all areas where we used to work together before, and ordinarily, before a vessel can carry products, they had to get certification from SON to ensure that their integrity is up to standards.

“We are all aware of how vehicles explode and could destroy over 100 lives at once.”

He restated the agency’s commitment to supporting local industries, saying that supporting industries would create employment opportunities for the nation’s teeming unemployed youths and wealth creation.

According to him, “when standards are compromised, it destroys the country’s ability to have functional industries”.