he Delta State Commissioner for Oil and Gas, Mr.

Omamofe Pirah has stated that n

on-metering of oil wells during loading and offloading of vessels cost Nigeria $
5 billion yearly in revenue.
Speaking at the 2014 special management workshop organised in Lagos by the Niger
ian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE), Pirah noted that Nigeria is
one of the few countries where there are no measures to ensure fairness, legali
ty, accuracy and quality control of all trade transactions in all sectors of the
economy.
He noted that this ugly practice in Nigeria s oil and gas industry is not in line
with international best practices.
Consequently, more than $5billion, representing about 10 per cent of the total an
nual revenue from the export of oil and gas from Nigeria, is lost to non-meterin
g of oil wells and inaccurate ship-to-shore differences, while loading/offloadin
g vessels, he said.
Pirah said the inadequacy of information on the quality of metering, well test d
ata, samples and other input data, including basic geologic models was a major c
hallenge in the oil and gas industry.
According to him, providing adequate and accurate data in oil and gas accounting
by the professionals involved will go a long way in imparting positively on inv
estors confidence.
He noted that insufficient control over corrections could occur, adding that an
important function of hydrocarbon accounting (HCA) system is to allow for correc
tion to measurement data.
Pirah however, pointed out that this must also be accompanied by high degree of
control, without which inconsistency is inevitable and very difficult to resolve
.
The commissioner, who spoke on Challenges and Prospects of Effective Oil and Gas
Production Accounting and Metering in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry, listed t
he challenges to effective hydrocarbon accounting to include information/data qu
ality; inadequate reporting/accuracy of data; absence of best practices; commerc
ial consideration; vandalism of production facilities and compliance to allocati
on and production rules.
Pirah further stated that there is a challenge of lack of acceptable best practi
ce among hydrocarbon allocation professionals, stressing that there are many sof
tware vendors in the industry all trying to sell their products.
This brings to the fore the non-recognition of the work or duties of hydrocarbon
accounting professionals in the oil and gas industry. This arises from lack of s
tandardisation and certification by any known or recognised institution, he said
.