This report assesses whether Nigeria’s 2024 Upstream Petroleum Environmental Remediation Fund (UPERF) regulations are fit for purpose. It analyses the regulatory and financial mechanisms and compares the 2024 regulations with the earlier 2022 draft, to evaluate whether the changes have strengthened or weakened the framework.
The Fund is intended to finance the remediation and rehabilitation of environmental pollution resulting from upstream oil and gas operations in the Niger Delta. Contributions are made by companies holding upstream licences for the extraction and production of petroleum, but not from pipelines, since these are covered by a parallel midstream fund. Financial modelling was carried out to estimate the likely annual inflows to the Fund and compare this to the estimated cost of remediation and rehabilitation across the region. The matter covered in the report has received renewed attention in the context of the on-going divestment from the Niger Delta by international oil companies.
