Section 7 Petroleum Industry Act 2021

Section 7 Petroleum Industry Act 2021 is about Technical regulatory functions of the Commission. It is under Part III (The Commission) of Chapter 1 (Governance and Institutions) of the Act.

The technical regulatory functions of the Commission include to——
(a) enforce, administer and implement laws, regulations and policies relating to upstream petroleum operations;
(b) ensure compliance with applicable national and international petroleum industry policies, standards and practices for upstream petroleum operations;

(c) establish, monitor, regulate and enforce heaIth, safety and environmental measures and standards relating to upstream petroleum operations including-
(i) management of petroleum reserves and installations, and
(ii) exploration. development and production activities within the onshore, frontier, shallow water and deep offshore acreages of Nigeria;
(d) administer, monitor and enforce compliance with the terms and conditions of leases and licences granted and permits and authorisations issued to a company in respect of upstream petroleum operations ;

(e) set, define and enforce approved standards and regulations for design, construction, fabrication, operation and maintenance of plants, installations and facilities used or to be used in upstream petroleum operations including-
(i) crude oil and natural gas evaluation and management,
(ii) upstream natural gas gathering,
(iii) natural gas treatment, and
(iv) the elimination of natura I gas flaring and venting;

(f) keep public registers of-
(i) Iicences and leases granted by the Minister and permits and other authorisations issued by the Commission,
(ii) beneficial ownership, and
(iii) award, renewal, assignment, amendment, suspension and
revocation;

(g) carry out enquiries, tests, audits or investigations and take other steps to monitor the activities of licensees, lessees or permit holders;
(h) establish and enforce standards relating to upstream petroleum operations;
(i) undertake evaluation of national reserves and develop policies for prudent reservoir management practices ;
(j) maintain a Nigerian petroleum industry data bank comprising of materials, information and data acquired by, or submitted to, the Commission in the exercise of its statutory and regulatory functions;

(k) require lessees, licensees and permit holders to furnish and publish specified information relating to upstream petroleum operations in this Act and the National Data Repository Regulation, 2020;
(I) supervise and ensure accurate calibration and certification of equipment used for metering upstream petroleum operations, pursuant to applicable laws, and issue certificates of quality and quantity for petroleum produced;

(m) publish reports and statistics on upstream petroleum operations to promote the growth of the petroleum industry;
(n) advise the Minister on fiscal, operational, technical and other matters to enhance the upstream petroleum operations ;
(o) issue permits and other authorisations as may be necessary under an upstream licence or lease, including-
(i) seismic operations,
(ii) drilling operations, and
(iii) design, construction and operation of facilities for upstream petroleum operations;

(p) establish special laboratories to provide data storage and testing, quality assurance and certification for upstream petroleum operations;
(q) perform technical evaluation and assessments regarding submissions made to the Commission by licensees, lessees or permit holders involved in upstream petroleum operations;
(r) keep records, data and reports obtained from upstream petroleum operations, as may be required under any Act or regulation and give directive to any person, company or entity in that regard :
(s) manage and administer data regarding unallocated acreage;

(t) conduct bidding rounds fort he award of petroleum prospecting licences and petroleum mining !eases pursuant to this act and applicable regulations ;
(u) when requested, provide assistance to parties conducting upstream petroleum operation, where in the sole opinion of the Commission such assistance is merited ;
(v) approve field development plans for upstream petroleum operations as well as monitor its execution ;
(w) compute, determine, assess and ensure payment of royalties, rents, fees, and other charges for upstream petroleum operations as stipulated under this Act and any regulation ;

(x) establish parameters and codes of conduct for licensees, lessees or permit holders in the upstream petroleum operations ;
(y) monitor the financial viability of licensees, lessees or permit holders with respect to upstream petroleum operations ;
(z) develop, maintain and publish a database of upstream petroleum operations ;
(aa) subject to the confidentiality provisions of section 83 (7) of this Act, share information and data on the upstream petroleum operations with other government entities which have functions with respect to the petroleum sector;

(bb) perform such other function as may be necessary to give effect to the provisions of this Act.
(cc) ensure and monitor performance of industry players and quality of the pro vis ion of services of servicing companies in the upstream petroleum industry;
(dd) conduct studies relating to the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of the upstream petroleum industry; and
(ee) issue certificates of quality and quantity to exporters of crude oil, natural gas and petroleum products from integrated operations and crude oil export terminals established prior to the effective date and the Commission shall have the power to monitor and regulate the operations of crude oil export terminals and the responsibility of weights and measures at the crude oil export terminals shall cease to exist from the effective date.