Environmental Regulation of Offshore Essay

The Environmental Regulation of Offshore Waste management in Nigeria has been documented in an article published by Law Environment And Development [1]. Evidence suggest that, Director of Petroleum Resources has to adopt measure to ensure the adequate regulation of offshore oil and gas E&P waste management [3] and further evidence suggest that, all offshore oil and gas E&P activities should also be subjected to environmental impact assessment at every stage of exploration and production in order to facilitate the proper management of wastes generated [124]. There are counter argument that says although the discharge of produced sands containing LSA/NORM into inland waters and near shore waters is prohibited unless treated to the satisfaction of the Director, no mention is made of discharge into offshore waters [53] and however, certain activities such as unplanned discharge of produced water (requiring contingency permits) and the transfer of produced water to another field for treatment and subsequent re-injection (requiring transfer permits) are not covered by permits or approval under Environmental Guidelines and Standards for the Petroleum Industry in Nigeria [17] and the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency Act 2007 (hereafter NESREA Act) empower NESREA, amongst other things, to enforce compliance with regulation on the handling and disposal of chemicals and waste except in the oil and gas sector (10).