By Peter Omopo
Lagos, September 11, 2025 — The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) says it has secured more than $400 million in pre-sale decommissioning and abandonment liabilities from recent oil and gas asset transfers, while approving 94 decommissioning and abandonment (D&A) plans since April 2023.
Chief Executive of the Commission, Engr. Gbenga Komolafe, disclosed this in Lagos at the NEITI Companies Forum, where he was represented by the Deputy Director, Human Resources, Corporate Services & Administration, Efemona Bassey.
Komolafe said Nigeria is applying lessons from global divestment cases that left governments and communities with heavy financial and environmental burdens. He cited examples from the North Sea (estimated £27bn in decommissioning costs by 2032), the Gulf of Mexico (over $9bn), Canada’s Alberta (C$30–70bn for 97,000 inactive wells), and Australia, where Northern Oil & Gas left AU$200m in liabilities in 2019.
“These experiences shaped how we handled recent divestments from NAOC to Oando Energy Resources; Equinor to Chappal Energies; Mobil Producing Nigeria to Seplat Energies; SPDC to Renaissance Africa Energy; and TotalEnergies to Telema Energies,” Komolafe said.
According to him, the Commission’s Divestment Framework requires rigorous checks on the technical capacity and financial strength of acquiring companies, alongside upfront escrow and Letter of Credit arrangements to secure obligations.
“The results from 2024 speak for themselves. Over $400 million in decommissioning liabilities have been secured. Host Community Development Trust obligations are fully honoured, while $9.2 million in environmental remediation commitments have been pledged,” he noted.
He added that since April 2023, 94 D&A plans worth $4.424 billion in total liabilities had been approved in line with the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), with payments to be remitted progressively into designated escrow accounts over the production life of the fields.
The Commission also addressed long-standing disputes with international oil companies on the domiciliation of escrow accounts. Komolafe said a regulatory framework developed after extensive consultations is now awaiting gazetting by the Ministry of Justice.
He stressed that Sections 232 and 233 of the PIA place full responsibility for decommissioning on licensees and lessees, while Chapter 3 and Section 104 establish obligations for host communities and environmental remediation.
“Without a robust and enforceable framework, divestment transitions can create lasting financial and environmental burdens. Our approach ensures Nigeria does not repeat the costly mistakes seen elsewhere,” Komolafe said.
