NUPRC: Upstream Metering Regulation Will Enhance Real-time Oil Production Monitoring

Peter Uzoho

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has said its recent upstream measurement regulation will ensure transparency, accountability and accuracy in the monitoring and recording of oil and gas production activities in Nigeria.

Chief Executive Officer of NUPRC, Mr. Gbenga Komolafe, disclosed this while speaking during the regulators panel session at the just-concluded Nigeria Oil and Gas (NOG) Energy Week 2023 in Abuja.

measurement regulation, he said, was being deployed for the first time since the beginning of oil production in Nigeria in 1958,

Komolafe explained that the upstream measurement regulation would encourage operators to use the latest digital technology similar to what obtains in Saudi Aramco and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) to digitally monitor what happens at oil installations in the country real-time.

He said the approach was necessary to assist the country tackle oil theft and inaccurate accounting of crude oil production from the regulatory point of view rather than only relying on kinetic approach used by security forces that are responsible for protecting national assets.

He added that with the aid of the regulation, which would ensure that all the facilities were properly metered in line with the latest technology, it would be possible for the commission to electronically integrate all the meters and be able to deploy the digital map of all the upstream activities. 

Komolafe stated: “But apart from that, you equally have the non-kinetic aspect with which the regulator is equally dealing with it. For instance, the commission is equally looking at the non-kinetic aspect of dealing with the issue of crude oil theft like ensuring that the regulator encourages the operators to deploy latest technology to deal with issue of crude oil theft for monitoring, surveillance and all that.

“Besides that, the issue of transparent accounting of the produced volume. We have rolled out the regulation on measurement. That is the first time in history since oil was discovered in Nigeria. We now have in Nigeria an upstream measurement regulation.

“By the time we begin to implement the regulation, the ultimate objective and what the commission is seeking to achieve is in a manner that there is a prescription of that regulation that we can actually monitor our production on real-time basis.”

According to him, the new regulation would be a win-win situation for both the government and the investors.

He maintained that issues of lack of transparency in terms of reconciliation of figures and related matters would be a thing of the past, assuring that, “the commission is very committed in that respect.”