The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Adebayo Adeniyi, has held a parley with the Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, to resolve issues surrounding the use of weights and measures in the oil and gas sector.
Recall that the signing of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) had taken some functions accorded by law to the Weights and Measures Department.
This includes verification, fiscalisation, calibration and certification of all measuring instruments used in the petroleum industry; quantity determination of petroleum and gas products for trade purposes and issuance of pattern of approval certification for measuring instruments used in the petroleum industry.
But speaking at the meeting in Abuja, Adeniyi noted that the enactment of PIA did not repeal the Weights and Measures Act, thus that the department was still responsible for the certification and verification of instruments used in the sector.
He stated that the PIA only empowered the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to regulate the use of instruments in the sector.
Represented by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Evelyn Ngige, the minister said the meeting was necessitated due to how associations had misinterpreted the new law to mean the Weights and Measures Department no longer had a role to play in the oil and gas sector.
He said, “But I wish to emphasise that the role of the department in the oil and gas sector is to certify and verify instruments used in dispensing oil and liquefied petroleum has such as the flow meter pumps, dipping sticks, scales and gas skid dispensers. The department equally issues initial verification certificates, re-verification certificates and pattern approvals for equipment used in dispensing oil and LPG.”
He added that the clarification and collaboration needed to be made to avoid future encumbrances from other sectors.
On his part, Sylva, who was represented by the Executive Secretary of PTDF, Dr Bello Aliyu Gusau, said the issues could best be resolved if a technical committee from the two ministries was inaugurated to find a solution.
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