This piece is a sequel to our briefing note titled “The Flare Gas (Prevention of Waste and Pollution) Regulations, 2018: A New Dawn” wherein we did an overview of the Flare Gas (Prevention of Waste and Pollution) Regulations, 2018 (the “Regulations”).
Following the introduction of the Regulations by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, President Mohammadu Buhari, there has been a discourse on whether or not the Regulations are expropriatory in nature with regards to the ownership rights of natural gas by existing holders of Oil Mining Leases (“OMLs”) and Marginal Fields. Our analysis in the following paragraphs lends our thoughts to this issue