Journal of Sustainable Development Law and Policy (The)

Decommissioning Offshore Oil and Gas Platforms: Is the Rigs-To-Reefs Program a More Sustainable Alternative?

Eduardo G. Pereira — 2023-08-18

One of the most conspicuous global challenges in the 21st century is global warming and climate change, attributable to long-term shifts in global temperatures and weather patterns due to persistent greenhouse gases emissions in the atmosphere. Fossil fuels production had been identified severally as a major culprit in the continous release of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Hence, there have been agitations from various stakeholder groups including international organizations, national governments, civil societies, etc., seeking ways to address these challenges. These agitations have led to the evolution of the global energy transition agenda, whereby the world is making a shift from fossil fuels production and consumption to cleaner and more sustainable energy sources. Such energy transition implies that fossil fuels facilities, including oil and gas facilities, are fast approaching the end of their productive life. The question therefore is, what becomes of these facilities at the end of their productive life? This invariably calls for an increased attention to oil and gas decommissioning. This is because proper and sustainable decommissioning of oil and gas facilities is significant for environmental protection and sustainable development. Hence, this paper evaluates the various options available for oil and gas decommissioning so as to identify their adverse environmental impacts, and other challenges posed by their implementation. The paper further evaluates the emerging rigs-to-reefs program, and proposes this program as a more sustainable decommissioning option for oil and gas platforms.

Decommissioning, Safety and Africa’s Blue Energy Economy: An Analysis of the African Integrated Maritime Strategy (Aims) 2050.

Eddy Wifa — 2023-08-18

The African maritime region is home to a variety of natural resources, including oil and gas and has significant potential for the maximisation of emerging offshore energy resources like wind, tidal and hydrogen. While thse discussions on the economic exploitation of these resources and the environmental dimensions of decommissioning have been the focus of numerous studies,1 the analysis of the legal and regulatory regime for safe decommissioning these assets and installations are quite limited. Considering that safety is an important consideration in the decommissioning of offshore oil and gas installations, this article takes a particularly unique position in critically examining the safety implications of offshore decommissioning of oil and gas infrastructures and the regulatory regime that is required to mitigate these safety risks. From an African context, it argues that the regulatory architecture for ensuring the safe removal of these offshore assets have not been give the required attention. More specifically, the decommissioning regime under the various African Conventions and particularly the African Integrated Maritime Strategy (AIMS) 2050, does not provide for a safety risk governance model as well as the various measures of regulatory scrutiny that ensures compliance in such a high and major risk operation. Drawing lessons from the European Safety Directive 2013 that was adopted following the 2010 Macondo disaster,2 this article argues for the adoption of a safety case-like regulatory strategy that requires members states to promote the adoption of a Mazard report.

Decommissioning Disputes – The Sustainability Gap.

Timi Balogun — 2023-08-18

The regulatory framework for oil and gas decommissioning forms the background against which decommissioning disputes take place. The growing role of sustainability considerations in the decommissioning process could lead to an increase in existing decommissioning disputes and to the development of new decommissioning sustainability disputes.

Sustainable Decommissioning in Ghana: Historical Developments, Current Practice and Challenges

Thomas Kojo Stephens — 2023-08-18

When Ghana enacted its first piece of legislation dealing specifically with petroleum operations in the upstream industry in 1984 - the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act, 1984 (PNDCL 84) - there was only one provision in the Act which dealt directly with decommissioning. This paper takes an introspective look at developments over time in putting in place an effective and sustainable decommissioning framework for Ghana’s upstream petroleum industry. It analyses the gaps therein and traces attempts over time such as a review by the Commonwealth Secretariat of existing statute, and proposals for a decommissioning scheme, to close them. It analyses measures by the government and encapsulated in statute to fill those gaps and ensure an efficient and sustainable framework. It analyses these developments through to the present when the Saltpond Field is to be decommissioned - Ghana’s first decommissioning exercise. Analysing the practical challenges in decommissioning the Field, impacts and risks, and that of Ghana’s upstream industry in general, the paper concludes that Ghana has through myriad measures strived to ensure that its framework is sustainable and situations such as the current one for instance where it is the government - and not the contractor - paying for decommissioning is averted.

New Frontiers for Decommissioning in Brazil

Barbara Eiroa Leite — 2023-08-18

This article explores the challenges and opportunities for decommissioning in Brazil, presenting the relevant regulatory framework. It also highlights the importance of the sustainable development as one of the guiding principles for the Brazilian government, especially to the energy sector. In this sense, the article explores different methods of infrastructure decommissioning, including the most advanced ones, such as the reuse to create wind offshore power projects or artificial reefs. Overall, the article discusses the expectations and forecasts for decommissioning activities in Brazil, and concludes that they have the potential to become a key instrument for the country to preserve the environment.

A Critical Assessment of the Regulatory Framework for Oil and Gas Decommissioning in Nigeria

Opeyemi Yetunde Omotuyi — 2023-08-18

Oil and gas production have been ongoing in Nigeria since the first major discovery of oil in commercial quantity in 1956. With over sixty years of exploitation, there is a tendency that several oil fields may be approaching the end of their viable lifespan. Moreover, with the increasing agitation against global warming and climate change, and the attendant shift towards energy transition and sustainable development, a wave of decommissioning in the oil and gas sector is to be expected globally. Since Nigeria is identifying with the energy transition agenda, the discourse on decommissioning is germane to the Nigerian oil and gas industry, especially because a move to cleaner energy sources will necessitate the decommissioning of several oil fields in the country. To ensure an effective decommissioning regime however, there must be established clear and enforceable rules and regulations for decommissioning in the oil and gas industry. Such rules and regulations must also address major issues and challenges attributable to decommissioning oil and gas projects generally.

Against this backdrop, this study explores the various legal regimes applicable to the decommissioning of oil and gas projects in Nigeria, with the aim of identifying the adequacy or otherwise of such laws. It was found that the existing legal regime, where considered together, provides adequately for decommissioning issues and challenges in the Nigerian oil and gas sector. Notwithstanding, the study found few challenges that may still hinder effective decommissioning processes in Nigeria. Therefore, the study concluded by proffering suitable recommendations that can promote the objectives of decommissioning in the Nigerian oil and gas sector.

Addressing Nigerian Economic Challenges through the Instrumentality of the Law

Joash Ojo Amupitan — 2023-08-18

Under the new dispensation, lawyers should be more involved in political and social engineering. Being the light bearer by virtue of their special training, they should bear the light at every dark enclave to show hidden attempts at the lawyer in misgovernance, misrule, and maladministration. The new dispensation must be dogged and determined fighter for freedom and equity and to ensure that the ordinary citizen is protected from threatened abuse of his fundamental rights through reckless and arrogant exercise of state powers the lawyers should take their pride of place in society. They should jettison the garb of eggheads living like strangers in a splendid isolation in his own society oblivious of important development in the economic and social affairs of his country. The lawyers` role in the new policy should be that of an active participant in the platonic search for common good”. Aare Afe Babalola, SAN1

Nation Building and International Financings – A Legal Perspective

Gabriel A. Onagoruwa — 2023-08-18

This article explores the challenges and opportunities for nation building in Nigeria in the context of the immediate aftermath of the 2023 elections, the twilight of the inauguration of the new administration, led by Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the urgent need to address the critical issues of infrastructure deficit, palpable poverty, and inadequate access to basic services.

The article discusses the importance of international financing as a critical source of funding for sustainable development and highlights the importance of aligning national financing objectives with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It emphasizes the need for clear development plans, coordination of risk mitigation mechanisms, cooperation of multilateral financial institutions and national and subnational committees and agencies, transparent legal and regulatory framework, as well as a robust judicial process, to attract international lenders and ensure effective deployment of financing towards the achievement of national development priorities.

Advancing Sustainability through Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) Technologies: The Hydrogel Case Study

Eduardo G. Pereira — 2023-08-18

Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) consists of several technologies that are capable of playing significant and diverse roles in the achievement of global energy and climate goals under the context of energy transition. It forms a relevant technological approach for capturing carbon and delivering a net zero energy system. Currently, CCUS projects are mainly taking place in developed countries, with some of them having specific promotion policies such as 45Q under IRA in the US. Several of the current CCUS activities take the form of enhanced oil recovery (EOR). CCS have a value chain comprising the CO2 capture, compression and liquefaction, transportation (by pipeline or ships), and storage (e.g., underground in saline aquifer or depleted reservoirs). CCU shares some of the CCS value chain elements, except storage, as it consists of techniques and initiatives that convert captured emitted carbons into useful products. Hence, adopting a qualitative research methodology, this study explores the concept and relevancy of CCUS in achieving net zero emissions using hydrogel as a case study. This study aims for the implementation of a new CCUS value chain that involves products based on carbon sequestration in land-based carbon dioxide removal (CDR), leading to a high potential for mitigating carbon emissions. Consequently, CCUS is vital to attenuate the problems of climate change, as it plays a key role in decarbonizing and facing the challenge of anthropogenic CO2 emissions, in addition to providing a long-term alternative compatible with sustainable development. Based on its properties and characteristics, especially as a polymeric electrolyte with a high capacity for conducting physical separation, this study proposes hydrogel as a viable technique for the maximum capture of atmospheric carbon. Such captured carbon is then utilized for various applications or stored appropriately. This study concludes with a highlight of specific lessons learned in this regard, and the major challenges observed with this CCUS technique.

Editorial Comments

Eduardo G. Pereira — 2023-08-18

No abstract.