Nigerian Govt. sets up database to cover crude oil, gas inventory

The Nigerian Government through its agency, Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has revealed the plans to establish accurate and reliable database relevant to determining the appropriate tariff methodology for the transportation and bulk storage of crude oil and natural gas in the country.

Engr. Farouk Ahmed, Authority Chief Executive (ACE), revealed this at the 2022 Petroleum Liquid Inventory Reconciliation Exercise which took place from February 6 to February 10, 2023, in Lagos.

The Exercise involved the NMDPRA, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Commission, Crude Oil and Gas Export Companies, the Central Bank of Nigeria, and the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).

Mr Ogbugo Ukoha, Executive Director, Distribution Systems, Storage, Retailing Infrastructure (DSSRI), who represented the ACE at the inventory reconciliation exercise, said the expanded data ecosystem will cover petroleum liquid volumes evacuated by trucking, barging and pipelines.

It will also include a data system on terminal receipt volumes and terminal stock records, crude oil inventory records per company, per terminal, quantities delivered to and received into refineries, quantities evacuated to other midstream storage facilities, export permit volumes, as well as actual export volumes per company, per terminal.

The NMDPRA Boss, while commenting on the reconciliation exercise, said it was scheduled to establish and authenticate a common data on midstream statistics relating to crude oil, condensates, natural gas and its derivatives.

He said, “The reconciled data will provide the basis for the administration of petroleum liquid supply license and guide the appraisal of licenses, authorisations and approvals issued in the midstream sector relating to petroleum transportation, storage and exports.

“This reconciliation will be beneficial to our stakeholders, in that, the dataset will also be of interest for NEITI audit, OPEC questionnaire and Joint Oil Data Initiative. It will also assist the National Assembly in its oversight function.

” Similarly, it can be used by security agencies for investigations and the Federal Ministry of Finance for monitoring the repatriation of export proceeds and royalties’ remittance by exporters of crude oil and natural gas,” the ACE said.

Engr. Ahmed stated that NMDPRA, as the custodian of petroleum products data bank, will continue to ensure the provision of credible, reliable data for all petroleum operations in the country.

EnergyDay gathered that the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 (PIA) mandates the NMDPRA to periodically reconcile data on crude oil terminal receipts, exports, refinery delivery, Oil and Gas transportation, and other related statistics that are of interest to the Federation as this directly affects royalties being remitted.