NMDPRA Moves to Reduce Accidents in Oil Industry as 60 Nigerians Die in Sector-related Incidences

*Says sabotage constitutes 98% of oil spills 

*Rivers, Bayelsa lead in cases of pipeline vandalism

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) yesterday moved to reduce incidences of fatalities in the oil and gas sector with the hosting of its first Industry Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) Managers’ Forum.

At the event which took place in Abuja, the Authority announced that between August and September 2022, 60 fatalities were recorded in industry-related accidents in 34 incidents.

In addition, the NMDPRA stressed that 62 injuries occurred, with a breakdown showing 12 fatalities and seven injuries in filling stations, while three deaths and three injuries were recorded at the refineries.
The NMDPRA further disclosed that 12 persons died in truck-related accidents, 20 in Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) retail outlets, five in LPG end-user incidents while eight people lost their lives at the depots.

Furthermore, the NMDPRA said eight persons were injured in LPG retail-related occurrences while 32 persons were injured at the depots.
Also, Rivers state led the Niger Delta states spill cases with 82 incidents, followed by Bayelsa with 75 cases, Delta with 12, Akwa Ibom with two and Imo state with two during the period under review.

Of the cases, equipment failure constituted 16 per cent, maintenance error was 19 per cent, while sabotage constituted 98 per cent. In terms of approvals, 20 laboratories were approved, one was denied while five remained under processing.
Speaking at the event, the Authority’s Chief Executive, Mr. Farouk Ahmed, said the petroleum industry has been at the forefront of HSE innovations in the last few decades often in response to the peculiar challenges that the industry faces.

He explained that the platform was to exchange ideas, thoughts and deliberate extensively on topical day-to-day operational and process related HSE issues, stressing that it is in this regard that the Authority has decided to revive the forum to enable it build on its past achievements.
“The oil and gas industry has for several decades maintained a pride of place at the top of the global energy mix despite the threat posed by renewable and cleaner energy sources.

“However, recent concerns about global warming, exponential improvements in the efficiency of renewable energy alternatives and the politics of oil pricing have combined to pose almost an existential threat to the global petroleum industry.
“The threats of renewable energy sources which in the past were almost always dismissed by energy industry experts have today become more real than ever and I would like to draw your attention to a few of the more recent trends,” Ahmed said.

He stated that some of the big international oil companies (IOCs) are currently funding gigantic research into alternative fuels, noting that as ‘sweet’ as Nigeria’s crude is renown to be globally, it has recently lost its most valued customers while its gas buyers are themselves now competing with it in the same marketspace as suppliers.

“If Nigeria is to continue to benefit from its vast petroleum resources, now more than ever is the time to build sustainability into our oil and gas value chain as well as management of its wastes.
“And this task rests on the shoulders of not only the regulators but all stakeholders,” Ahmed, who was represented by the Executive Director, Hydrocarbon Processing Plants, Installations and Transportation Infrastructure, Francis Ogaree, stated.

In a goodwill message, the Executive Commissioner Health, Safety, Environment and Community (HSEC) of the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Capt. John Tonlagha, said the platform serves as a veritable tool to bridge the gap between the regulator and the entirety of the value chain in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.

“We have discovered over the years that exchange of correspondences between the regulator and the industry on critical HSE matters without a platform like this to cross fertilise ideas, have extensive and robust industry wide deliberations for proper alignment on topical issues, achieve little, and in most cases, present the regulator as a watchdog setting up players in the industry to be in perpetual non-compliance with all the attendant consequences.

“Having put the HSE managers’ forum into proper perspective based on its gains that we in the commission can attest to, I believe very frankly that the NMDPRA and all the players in this sector of the oil and gas industry are on a journey for lasting partnership that will help consolidate the gains of the PIA,” he stated.
Also speaking, Executive Director HSEC, NMDPRA, Dr. Mustapha Lamorde, said the forum would help promote healthy, safe, efficient and effective conduct of activities in the midstream and downstream petroleum operations.
He explained that this would assist to ensure that the midstream and downstream operations are carried out in an environmentally accepted and sustainable manner.