Key Elements of The 2017 National Petroleum Policy

Also, it is expected that measures will be taken to minimize environmental damage and the environmental footprint in the Niger Delta. The NPP proposes the “name and shame” strategy (by which details of pollution and the polluters will be published in international media) and the “polluter pays” principle (under which polluters pay the full costs of mitigating any damage to the environment or communities). The Government will also consider moving to a system of independent assessment of the environmental and human costs of an oil spill, and may introduce an outright ban on the usual private arrangements involving nominal financial settlement with local chiefs in affected communities.

The NPP also envisions the balancing of petroleum resources utilization within the context of Renewable Energy. It is therefore intended that renewable energy will form a significant part of Nigeria’s diversified energy mix especially as the cost of renewable energy continues to decline with renewables gaining ground worldwide. Besides, the long-term future for Nigeria is seen to be in gas and an oil-based petrochemical industry. It is envisaged, in the medium to long term, that gas will be diverted from the power sector and be increasingly used for gas-based industrial purposes. Similarly, oil exports will become proportionately less and less important for the Nigerian economy, as oil refining and oil-based industrialization becomes an integral part of the new industrial economy.

In line with the vision of a strong refining sub-sector, the NNPC refineries are expected to become autonomous profit centres, with responsibility for their own commercial operations. Storage depots and ancillary facilities which were hitherto transferred to the Nigerian Pipeline & Storage Company Limited (“NPSC”), formerly Petroleum Products Marketing Company Limited (“PPMC”), are intended to be returned to the refineries. In their new independent status, the refineries will be given autonomy to source crude oil and sell refined products, as they deem fit. In addition, each refinery will be given a transition period, within which to become commercially viable, failing which non-performing refineries will be divested, concessioned, or closed down. Strategic partnerships, concessions, co­location of new refineries within the precincts of the existing refineries, and other viable structures are being considered, to attract international finance, as well as technical and commercial expertise into NNPC refineries.

The Government intends to also encourage the construction of private refineries as well as invite private sector players to invest in the construction of midstream and downstream infrastructure, especially transportation pipelines and facilities for refining, storage and distribution. There is consideration for economic regulation of jetties in a deregulated environment to prevent monopoly or oligopoly tendencies that may affect the free flow of refined petroleum products. At any rate, onshore strategic reserves of refined petroleum products will be developed to mitigate the risk of significant disruptions in supply from existing sources, or transportation routes such as transport jetties at Apapa or Calabar, or commercial arrangements at the terminals affecting the optimal flow of products or pricing. In order to diversify and hence reduce these risks, the government will also investigate the opportunities for increases in jetty capacity in addition to the construction of new jetties.