Yemisi Izuora
The Department of Petroleum Resources(DPR), may seal off gas stations around residential areas in Nigeria as a measure to uphold standards.
The measure is coming as the regulator vows to maintain Health,Safety and Environment standards in the nation’s oil and gas industry in line with international safety requirements.
The agency also said it would ensure that operators in the industry comply with set rules with a view to minimizing inherent risks as well as evolve standards in the sector that can stand the test of time.
Besides,the agency said it is considering stringent actions against indiscriminate citing of gas stations in the residential vicinity and the activities of tanker drivers in the country.
Dr. Musa Zagi, the Deputy Director, Health,Safety and Environment,Department of Petroleum Resources,disclosed this in Lagos at a pre-event press conference of the agency’HSE activity billed to hold in Lagos next week.
The theme of the event is:’’Driving Sustainability in the Oil and Gas Industry through Improved Stakeholders’ Environmental Stewardship
He explained conference serves to engender HSE awareness amongst stakeholders in the industry and still remains the biggest forum that brings HSE experts from both within and outside the country to share new ideas and experiences on HSE issues.
Zagi,who doubles as the conference Organizing Committee Chairman, disclosed stated that Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, will launch three policy documents on regulatory safety
regulatory issues.
“The policy documents will focus on ‘Environmental Guidelines and Standards for the Petroleum Industry in Nigeria (EGASPIN) 2018, Regulatory Guidance for the Management of NORM in the Petroleum
Industry: Abandonment, Decommissioning and Decontamination of Oil and Gas Installations and Occupational Health Guidelines & Standards for the Petroleum Industry in Nigeria”.
He said the HSE conference will provide a platform for HSE professionals in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry and other interested participants (local and foreign) to meet and share experiences (local and foreign) relating to HSE issues arising from exploration & production, downstream and other related activities.
“The aim is to promote and entrench a safe and environmentally sustainable oil and gas industry in Nigeria. The 18th edition of the International HSE Biennial Conference on the Oil and Gas Industry in
Nigeria has been scheduled to hold from the 26th – 28th, November 2018 with the theme: “Driving Sustainability in the Oil and Gas Industry through Improved Stakeholders’ Environmental Stewardship.”
Assessing the import of the 39year old confab,Zagi saidt previous conferences have led to several achievements which includes: Development of the Environmental Guidelines and
Standards for the Petroleum Industry in Nigeria (EGASPIN), the emergence of the Federal Environmental Protection Agency and the subsequent establishment of the State Environmental Protection
Agencies, the creation of the Nigerian Environmental Society (NES), establishment of the Environmental Sanitation Day, though it is no longer held in Lagos but still be held in some parts of the Country
every last or first Saturday of the month.
According to him,other benefits of the confab includes: establishment of the Ecological Fund which later formed the basis for the conceptualization and establishment of the Derivation Fund for the Oil Producing States, and establishment and sustenance of the Health, Safety and Environment Management Systems by operators in the industry.
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