Oil & Gas
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The Department of Petroleum Resources is to eliminate delays and ensure that granting of oil and gas licence or permit takes only 70 hours through its newly launched digital portal. It has also threatens to sanction marketers who sell kerosene above the official price of N50
| By Anayo Ezugwu | Oct. 13, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT |
THE Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, has launched a digital portal to grant oil and gas industry services permits and licences, OGISP. The digital portal would enable DPR to reduce undue delays in processing documents. Prior to the launch of the OGISP, the regulatory agency activities were done manually, resulting in undue delays in processing of documents, loss of documents and gave room to unnecessary bottlenecks, which adversely impacted its activities.
With the launch of the OGISP, issuance of e-portal, processing and issuance of oil and gas industry service permits to applicants will henceforth be done electronically. This also implies that all applicants seeking renewals of their licenses or applying for new ones would be required to apply online with all applicable requirements and such permits would be processed and issued within seventy hours by the DPR. The launch of the e-portal, according to the DPR, marked the beginning of full digitalisation of its entire licencing and permitting system, and was geared towards improved service delivery and operational efficiency.
The oil and gas industry service permit is a regulatory requirement for Nigerian registered companies seeking to provide services in the oil and gas industry. It has three main categories, namely: service- General, Major and Specialised and attract statutory fees of N500, N2,500 and N7,500, respectively.
According to Dorothy Bassey, spokeswoman of the DPR, the new online application system will require applicants to visit the DPR website-www.dprnigeria.org.ng or navigate to the OGISP portal-ogisp.dpr.gov.ng for registration by creating a company specific account on the portal for submission, processing and issuance of permits. However, existing permit holders, whose permits had not expired at the time the new process began, would be required to re-certify their permits through the online portal at no extra cost.
“The Department wishes to assure existing and new applicants that the statutory fees currently charged for the different categories remain unchanged. However, moderate administrative fees for the different categories have been introduced for infrastructural support and servicing of the electronic platform to enable us serve the public better. All payments for permits shall be through any bank nationwide using all electronic payment options available in the banking industry like Mastercard, Visa, Verve, Quickteller,” Bassey said.
The DPR spokeswoman also explained that all necessary security features had been incorporated into the system to safeguard details of all applicants. She warned that forged or fake documents submitted as support documents will render the application void and fees forfeited. She said some services under the major and specialised categories may require further evaluation, while all applications for offshore operations must show evidence of possession of Offshore Safety Permit, OSP.
The digital portal was announced at the annual meeting the DPR had with oil marketers on September 27, in Lagos. At that meeting, the Department of Petroleum Resources threatened to sanction marketers of petroleum products who sell kerosene above the official price of N50 per litre. George Osahon, director of DPR, said the regulatory body would henceforth sanction any retail outlet caught selling kerosene above the approved price.
Osahon said the meeting was a forum to discuss the past lapses in the downstream operations and enlightened the stakeholders on the role of DPR as the regulator of the petroleum industry and also broaden the knowledge of the operators on other issues about DPR activities that were not clear to them. He said the meeting was not intended to discuss the negative sides of the operators but it was imperative to highlight the few operational lapses discovered by the regulatory agency.
Apart from selling kerosene above the N50 official pump price, some filling stations had continued to tamper with their pump meters in order to cheat their unsuspecting customers, despite the constant warnings by the agency. “This is very disappointing and it goes a long way to show that many operating companies no longer monitor the activities of their stations. The stations have been left at the mercy of dealers, station managers and pump attendants and the companies are only interested in recouping their investments. The companies are therefore, warned that this act must stop or we may be left with no choice than to impose stiffer penalty against any defaulting companies, henceforth,” he said.
Describing the sale of kerosene above N50 by marketers as another disturbing act, he warned erring marketers to desist from this malpractice or face sanctions. The marketers were also asked not to compromise safety as the petroleum industry was a dynamic one that required high standards of safety. “Neglecting this important aspect is not only a contravention of the petroleum laws and regulations, but an act capable of compromising safety, which can cause operational hazard, thereby endangering lives and properties.”
Most major and independent marketers, according to him, are not treating safety issues with utmost priority, adding, “most companies allow unrestricted number of persons entering filling stations’ premises at will, while “most stations are being crowded with all sorts of people – traders, beggars and touts. This is a gross violation of safety regulations and must be stopped. The issue of unauthorised conversion of product underground storage tanks is on the increase. We have also witnessed tank failure in many stations during integrity tests (leak tests) exercises mainly due to aging, use of substandard materials in tank construction.”
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Tags: Department of Petroleum Resources George Osahon
