Assessing The Impact Of International And Regional Legal Frameworks On Petroleum Assets Decommissioning Legislation In Nigeria

The increasing global efforts at enhancing sustainable energy and best oilfieldpractices in the petroleum sector have made decommissioning of petroleum assetsa subject of constant environmental and legal deliberations at international,regional and national forums. In Nigeria, the legal framework for decommissioningis developing and partly shaped by worldwide and regional regimes that stipulatevital guidelines and standards for ecological preservation, obligations and industrybest practices. The article, which adopts a doctrinal research methodology,investigates the scope to which international framework, like the 1958 GenevaConvention, United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), theOSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the NorthEast Atlantic (OSPAR Convention), the International Maritime Organisation(IMO) guidelines, in addition to African regional framework, such as the AbidjanConvention and its protocol, etc have influenced Nigeria’s municipaldecommissioning laws. The article examines pre-2021 decommissioning laws andthe Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), 2021 plus its incidental regulations, with a viewto ascertaining how international decommissioning obligations are mirrored in thenational laws and guidelines. The article also evaluates some of the challengesconfronting Nigeria’s effective implementation of these laws, including legaluncertainties, enforcement constraints, and fiscal obligations for decommissioningexpenses. The findings of the research disclosed that although evidently, global andregional instruments have a bearing on local decommissioning laws, yetconsiderable gaps still exist in aligning Nigerian legislation with the requisite globalprospects. Thus, the article recommends that the identified constraints should beaddressed in order to ensure that decommissioning operations in Nigeria areconsistent with excellent global petroleum industry practice.