Oil companies operating in Nigeria risk up to five percent of annual operating turnover in penalties on being found guilty of serious anti-competitive practices if a brewing industry regulation sees the light of day.

According to the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), the arm of the government championing this strategy, this would apply to breaches in both the midstream and downstream sectors.

The strategy is contained in the draft regulations of the proposed Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Prevention of Anti-Competitive Practices and Behaviour Regulations, 2026.

Under the proposed regulations, companies involved in breaches such as price-fixing, bid-rigging, market allocation, abuse of market dominance and other conduct capable of causing significant harm to competition could be fined between three and five percent of their annual turnover.

Persistent or serious offenders may also have their licences suspended or revoked, while the Authority may impose daily penalties on operators that fail to comply with its orders or continue prohibited conduct after being directed to stop.

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The draft regulation states, “Where the Authority determines, after investigation and due process, that a licensee or any other person has engaged in anti-competitive conduct or breached any provision of this Regulation or the Act, it may impose administrative fines as provided herein.”

It further states, “The maximum administrative fine shall not exceed five per cent of the annual turnover of the offending undertaking for the preceding financial year.

“For purposes of these regulations, ‘annual turnover’ means gross revenues or sales derived from the regulated business activities in Nigeria. Where multiple entities or group structures are involved, the Authority may consider the turnover of the group, subsidiary, or segment most directly involved in the infringement.”

The proposed framework classifies competition infringements into three categories, with Category A covering severe offences, Category B moderate offences and Category C minor or technical breaches.

Category A offences attract indicative fines of between three and five per cent of annual turnover. They include cartel agreements involving price-fixing, bid-rigging and market allocation, as well as abuse of dominance with foreclosure effects, such as predatory pricing and refusal to supply an essential facility.

Aggravating factors would include repeat offending, obstructing an investigation, having a large market share or causing significant harm to the market. Mitigating factors include voluntary self-reporting, cooperation beyond legal obligations, early termination of prohibited conduct and an established compliance programme.

Category B offences attract fines of between one and three per cent of annual turnover and include exclusive dealing without clear foreclosure, tying or bundling with minor market harm and unfair discrimination between trading partners.

Category C offences could attract fixed penalties ranging from N5m to N50m or less than one per cent of turnover. These include failure to submit required competition reports, delays in submitting compliance reports and inadvertent data omissions or misstatements.

An operator that fails to comply with a final cease-and-desist order could face a daily penalty of between N5m and N25m until compliance is achieved. The proposed rules provide, “Where a licensee or person fails to comply with an order or directive of the Authority, a daily penalty may be imposed for each day the violation continues.”

Where a prohibited practice continues after a final order, the daily penalty could rise to between N10m and N50m. Before imposing a fine, the NMDPRA would issue a Notice of Intention to Fine setting out the facts and findings, the nature of the infringement, the basis for calculating the proposed fine and the proposed deadline for payment.

The affected operator would have at least 30 days to make written representations or request a hearing.

It states, “Before imposing a fine, the Authority shall issue a Notice of Intention to Fine, specifying: (a) The facts, findings, and nature of the infringement; (b) The basis for the proposed fine, including its calculation; and (c) The proposed deadline for payment. The respondent shall be granted no fewer than 30 days to make written representations or request a hearing.”

The proposed framework also extends accountability to individuals who knowingly participate in serious anti-competitive practices. Directors, managers and officers could face personal sanctions, including referral to the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) for personal liability under the FCCPC Act.

Persistent or serious violations could also result in the suspension or revocation of an operator’s licence or permit. Operators would generally be required to pay penalties within 30 days of a Final Penalty Order (FPO). The framework preserves the right to appeal, while unpaid fines would constitute debts recoverable by the Authority.

Meanwhile, stakeholders and operators have up to 21 days to submit comments, approval or objection on the proposed regulations, in compliance with Section 216(1) of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, which requires stakeholder consultation before regulations are finalised.

With fresh technical findings indicating the presence of potentially hazardous gases and pollution in the community’s air, water and sediment, the House of Representatives Committee on South-South Development Commission has ordered urgent intervention to end the prolonged gas seepage in Niger-Delta communities including Bille in Rivers State and Odidi Federated in Delta State.

The committee’s Chairman, Julius Pondi, made the demand on Thursday during an urgent stakeholders’ engagement on the Bille gas seepage and a legislative hearing on the Odidi oil spill in Abuja.

Pondi said the two incidents underscored the environmental and developmental challenges confronting oil-producing communities in the Niger Delta region, where residents continue to bear the consequences of environmental degradation despite the region’s contribution to the national economy.

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The committee’s concern over Bille, he said, was heightened by its engagement with the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission and the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency on July 30, 2026, noting that it was unacceptable that the gas seepage had continued for about nine months without a clear solution.

“The implications are serious. Beyond the potential risks to health, safety and the environment, the incident has imposed severe economic hardship on the people of Bille.

“It is unacceptable for an incident of this magnitude to persist for so long without a clear, time-bound and effective resolution strategy,” he stated.

Pondi said Thursday’s engagement was intended to establish the facts surrounding the incident, assess the response by government agencies and operators, identify outstanding challenges and agree on practical and measurable steps towards resolving the crisis.

He stated that the committee expected comprehensive briefings from the operating company, NUPRC, NOSDRA and other relevant agencies on the cause, extent and current status of the seepage.

The representatives of Bille community were also allowed to present their concerns and outline the relief and interventions required.

“Most importantly, we want to move from prolonged discussion to concrete action and lasting resolution,” Pondi said.

Providing a technical briefing, a director of NOSDRA, Dr Yusuf Rigasa, said the agency had confirmed the presence of multiple gases, including hydrogen sulphide, methane, volatile organic compounds and carbon dioxide, at several locations in Bille, Degema Local Government Area of the state.

Rigasa said investigations established what he described as “multi-point subsurface gas bubbling” in different parts of the community, including the premises of the Government Primary and Secondary School, saying the school had subsequently been abandoned, while gas bubbling was also confirmed around waterways and mangrove areas.

According to him, NOSDRA conducted an air-quality assessment on December 6, 2025, across 19 stations and recorded elevated concentrations of the aforementioned pollutants.

He explained that hydrogen sulphide has a characteristic rotten-egg smell, while methane is highly flammable and potentially explosive, adding that the concentrations recorded during the assessment exceeded applicable regulatory thresholds.

He added that the agency’s reference laboratory analysed samples collected on December 16, 2025, and detected elevated levels of total petroleum hydrocarbons in groundwater, surface water and sediment samples.

The findings, after sample analysis by the agency’s reference laboratory, “indicated that parts of Bille’s soil, surface water and groundwater had been affected by pollution.”

However, Rigasa said NOSDRA had not established that the gases were from a hydrocarbon source or linked to any particular oil and gas operator.

He said the agency’s technical presentation to the Minister of Petroleum Resources indicated that “the source of the seepage was probably biogenic, resulting from the degradation of organic matter.”

The NOSDRA official said the agency had compared the Bille situation with the Lake Nyos gas disaster in Cameroon in 1986, stressing the need for the incident to be treated with utmost seriousness.

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has licensed the Lagos Commodities and Futures Exchange (LCFE) to be facilitating the trading and clearing of petroleum liquids.

Expectations are that the development would deepen price discovery, transparency and investment in Nigeria’s energy market.

The approval provides LCFE with the regulatory foundation to establish a structured marketplace for petroleum liquids, linking the physical petroleum market with Nigeria’s capital market through regulated trading, clearing and settlement infrastructure.

The licence was unveiled in Abuja on Tuesday at a stakeholder event attended by senior representatives of the NMDPRA, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), S&P Global Ratings, the Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS), Alliance Law Firm, and other capital and energy market operators.

Already, no fewer than ten petroleum liquid traders have committed to participating in the exchange, providing an initial pool of market participants for the development of the new trading ecosystem.

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At the event, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of LCFE, Akin Akeredolu-Ale, said the approval marked a defining moment for Nigeria’s commodities market, noting that the infrastructure required to support petroleum liquids trading was falling into place.

He said, “The issuance of this licence marks a defining moment for Nigeria’s commodities market. It gives us the regulatory foundation to bring petroleum liquids into a transparent, structured, and technology-enabled marketplace, connecting the physical energy market with Nigeria’s capital market.”

Akeredolu-Ale pointed out that the emerging market architecture would incorporate technology-enabled trading, two-way quotations, contract trading and settlement, as well as licensed collateral managers to strengthen oversight and risk management.

The development comes as Nigeria’s petroleum industry undergoes significant structural changes following the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), full deregulation of the downstream market and the commencement of operations at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals (DPRP).

On his part, the Chief Executive of NMDPRA, Rabiu Umar, noted that the authority’s priority was to create a predictable, equitable and transparent regulatory environment capable of attracting investment and supporting sustainable growth in the energy sector.

According to him, the PIA, market deregulation and the emergence of large-scale domestic refining capacity have fundamentally altered Nigeria’s position in the global energy landscape.

Also speaking, the Director-General of SEC, Dr Emomotimi Agama, commended LCFE for pursuing the initiative, describing it as a transformative opportunity for Nigeria’s commodities and capital markets.

On her part, S&P Global Ratings’ Managing Director, Africa Research & Analytics and Country Head, South Africa, Samera Mensah, stressed the importance of credible market infrastructure, transparent pricing benchmarks and credit ratings in building investor confidence.

She added that S&P’s reclassification of Nigeria from a frontier market to an emerging market aligns with the Federal Government’s target to expand the economy to $1tn.

Similarly, the Division Head, Business Services & Client Experience at CSCS, Onome Komolafe, assured stakeholders that the financial market infrastructure provider would support the new market through its depository, clearing and settlement capabilities, including digital asset recording.

In his remarks, the Founder and Managing Partner of Alliance Law Firm, Uche Obi, described the licence as a major legal and regulatory milestone that underscores the regulatory and institutional capacity backing the platform.

Market watchers have described the NMDPRA approval as a landmark step in LCFE’s broader vision to transform Nigeria’s commodities landscape and position the exchange as a premier energy trading hub in Africa.