The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has issued a circular to all upstream petroleum operators, licensees, lessees and their helicopter service providers, laying out the outcome of a Ministerial Review Committee’s assessment of the controversial Helicopter Levy for Air Navigational Services.

The circular, dated 28 August 2026 and signed by the Commission Chief Executive, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, confirmed that the $300 per-landing levy, which has been a source of friction between operators and aviation authorities, will remain in place.

The commission confirmed that the fee is payable to the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) via its approved collection mechanism. 
 
However, the document also delivers a measure of relief on a related charge that had been weighing on offshore operations.

The review followed concerns raised by the NUPRC, on behalf of upstream stakeholders, over how the levy was introduced, structured and operationalised.   
 
In response, the  Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development constituted a Ministerial Review Committee on 9 March 2026. 

Its membership was broad, drawing together NUPRC, the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development, the Office of the National Security Adviser, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NAMA and NAMA’s appointed collection consultant.

Among the committee’s five key conclusions, the most consequential for offshore operators concerns the Terminal Navigational Charge (TNC). 

The committee determined that the TNC is payable only in respect of landings at government-owned aerodromes, and does not apply to landings at private offshore facilities or platforms, a distinction that should ease cost pressures for companies running helicopter operations to rigs and offshore installations. 

The charge remains applicable, however, to helicopter operations not undertaken in support of upstream petroleum activities, including medical evacuation flights, private charters and agricultural operations.

The committee also directed that the levy be treated as a statutory air navigation charge for cost-reporting purposes, with NUPRC to communicate the applicable classification and reporting requirements, including how any cost element previously recorded against the TNC for upstream helicopter services should now be treated through subsequent regulatory instruments.

In a move likely to draw close attention from operators, the circular confirms that NAMA is to deploy low-altitude flight monitoring and surveillance systems in the interest of national security and airspace governance. This will require flight manifests, movement logs and offshore activity data from operators, with the specific requirements to be communicated separately by NAMA, within whose mandate the initiative falls.

Perhaps most significantly for the sector’s regulatory relationship going forward, the committee affirmed that no new or revised fee, levy or charge with a direct impact on upstream petroleum operations should be introduced without prior consultation with NUPRC and other relevant stakeholders. 

The Commission grounded this requirement in section 25 of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, effectively formalising a consultation safeguard that operators had long sought amid a string of ad hoc charges affecting the sector.

NUPRC has called on all upstream petroleum operators, licensees, lessees and their helicopter service providers to take note of the committee’s conclusions and to align their contractual, invoicing and cost-recovery arrangements accordingly.

The circular brings a measure of clarity to an issue that had unsettled operators reliant on helicopter transport for offshore staff rotations, equipment movement and emergency logistics, activities integral to Nigeria’s upstream petroleum operations.