DPR to inaugurate ADR centre, denies revocation of refinery licences

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has concluded plans to unveil the oil and gas industry Alternative Dispute Resolution Centre (ADRC) with the inauguration of the advisory Council and body of neutrals in Lagos tomorrow.

The ADRC is one of the centres in the DPR National oil and gas excellence centre (NOGEC) that was recently launched by President Muhammadu Buhari.

According to the DPR, the Oil and Gas ADRC will offer arbitration, mediation and conciliation services for the Industry.

The DPR also noted that the centre will leverage industry technical experts, ADR practitioners and resources of the National Data Repository (NDR) to provide fair and balanced resolutions of industry-related disputes from an informed position.

“The ADRC is structured to adequately resolve disputes in a manner consistent with regulatory and commercial interests of the Industry.

“This will address sub-optimal development of oil and gas assets associated with lingering disputes and the attendant consequences of value erosion in terms of national resource growth, global competitiveness, investment attractiveness, government take and investor’s profitability”, a statement from the Head of Public Affairs, Paul Osu read in part.

Osu also denied reports that the regulator revoked 32 refinery licences, stating that the licences became inactive at the expiration of their validity period.

According to him, a licence becomes inactive until the company reapplies for revalidation to migrate to another milestone.

“This does not in any way translate to revocation of licence of a company”, he added.