Nigeria’s role in the AFRIPERF framework and implications

In the lead-up to the historic launch of the African Petroleum Regulators Forum (AFRIPERF) in September 2025, Nigeria is taking a pioneering role by working to harmonize petroleum regulations across the continent, strengthen transparency, and attract greater investment into Africa’s oil and gas industry. The project, which involved the collective signing of the charter by many of the regulatory bodies from the African countries, attempts to reduce the fragmentation prevalent in national regulatory regimes and establish clearer directives on cross-border projects, emission management, digitalization, and other emerging priorities. 

For Nigerian oil and gas companies, AFRIPERF presents both opportunities and upheavals: an opportunity to access bigger integrated markets and an impetus to meet higher compliance and governance standards. This article will discuss what AFRIPERF is, Nigeria’s role in the AFRIPERF framework, and what local oil and gas companies need to know. 

What does AFRIPERF mean, and why is it important?

The African Petroleum Regulators Forum (AFRIPERF) is a new establishment through which African petroleum regulators will coordinate petroleum policies, share good practices, and establish common standards to ease and minimize the risk of cross-border investments and trade. The charter that has been signed by the participating countries seeks to strengthen regulatory cooperation, governance, and the tackling of common issues that affect the industry, such as emissions reduction, monitoring of illicit trade in hydrocarbons, and the digitalization of oversight. Creating some commonality in terms of key technical, safety, and reporting parameters will help to reduce transaction costs and investment risk in the operations of companies that work across different jurisdictions. 

It matters because the petroleum landscape in Africa has, historically, remained highly fragmented. Each country sets itself apart with its own rules on licensing, environmental standards, tax regime, and laws on local content. This very complexity drives up the cost of doing business, prolongs project timelines, and, therefore, discourages investment on a long-term basis. A credible, well-governed continental forum, thus, reduces that barrier by providing common technical guidelines, protocols for sharing data, and a platform for the resolution of regulatory inconsistencies, which is precisely the kind of guarantee international investors treasure. 

Nigeria’s role in the AFRIPERF framework

Nigeria was the driving force for the formation of AFRIPERF and presided over the early meetings, with the head of its upstream regulator prominently involved in drafting the charter. Nigeria has acted resolutely for several reasons:

• Scale and influence: Nigeria occupies a significant position on the African continent for oil production and hosts significant downstream and upstream infrastructure. Its regulatory decisions have ripples across Africa and are the focus of international attention. 
• Desire to attract investment: By promoting harmonized regulation, Nigeria signals to investors that Africa has a standardized, investment-friendly framework, one factor that may increase capital inflow for the region.
• Addressing shared problems: Issues of cross-border gas trade, pipelines, and emissions are transnational and could have coordinated solutions that cannot be implemented by mere national regulators.

Nigeria’s leadership, therefore, is strategic; it shapes the rules by which future continental projects will be implemented, giving Nigeria greater influence over technical standards and mechanisms to resolve disputes. That influence may allow Nigeria to advocate for rules that protect local content and maximize domestic value capture, but it also means that Nigeria will be looked upon to implement and enforce. 

Key elements of the AFRIPERF charter

While AFRIPERF is intended to be a regulators’ forum and not a supranational lawmaker, several operational priorities in its Charter are of direct consequence for companies doing business in Nigeria and elsewhere:

• Regulatory harmonization and standards: Common technical, safety, and reporting standards to reduce cross-border friction. 
• Data sharing and digital oversight: Protocols for sharing export, production, and emissions data to improve transparency.
• Cross-border trade facilitation: Frameworks for pipeline interconnectivity, joint development zones, and cross-jurisdictional licensing.
• Environmental and emissions management: Coordinated approaches to methane reduction, flaring controls, and environmental impact assessments.
• Capacity building and knowledge exchange: Training, best-practice toolkits, and joint regulatory reviews.

The above outlines some of the regulations. As the regulators get aligned, these rules may be embedded into national laws, amended to fit their agreed standards, or the regulators may use the forum’s technical reports to back new domestic laws more and more. What this means for companies is that compliance would not only become more visible through data-sharing but also more standardized through common thresholds and reporting formats. 

Implications for Nigerian local oil and gas companies

1. Compliance expectations will rise and become more visible

As AFRIPERF harmonizes reporting formats and data protocols, regulators will be able to assess discrepancies between reported production, exports, and emissions. This will usher in increased scrutiny and pressure to tidy up records and compliance processes. In early 2025, Nigeria adopted stricter oversight of exports by introducing real-time tracking of export shipments; this emphasis on sharing data through AFRIPERF could back up this law. Local companies may expect regulators to make regional comparisons of the data and demand increased transparency from companies. 

2. Higher entry standard for cross-border projects (but with clarity)

AFRIPERF is expected to build common expectations for joint pipelines, shared fields, and cross-border licensing. Although higher technical and environmental thresholds may increase upfront compliance costs, they also reduce regulatory uncertainty where multinational projects have previously struggled to find financing.

Such a move could be a net positive for Nigerian companies eyeing regional partnerships, if they can clear the bar, of course. Local players that invest early in certified technical, environmental, and governance capacity will be best positioned to lead or participate in cross-border ventures.

3. Intensified controversies on local content and value retention

Nigeria has long stipulated local participation, supply chain development, and in-country value retention. Disagreement might arise as harmonized rules imposed by AFRIPERF will clash with such local policy stipulations for individual countries.

Nigeria may try to balance the harmonization attempt with some provisions for the local industry. Local companies, therefore, need to be ready for doing business in what would be a dual landscape: common technical standards and national local-content rules.

4. Financing and risk dynamics could change

Harmonized rules may decrease project risk perception, thereby increasing the attractiveness of foreign financing for insurance. However, insurers and banks require that companies show their compliance with standardized technical and governance benchmarks. Thus, any local Nigerian company that successfully acquires ISO and environmental verifications will be able to hit the competitive markets with ease in financing and insurance terms.

5. Change in supply chain operations 

Once again, due to harmonized regulations, suppliers and contractors will work with common technical and environmental standards. Those local vendors that fail to upgrade will easily fall through the cracks. It is seen as both a risk and an advantage: companies that invest in vendor development programs will be able to enjoy the fruits of favorable supplier relations and be part of a resilient supply chain across the region.

6. Regional markets repositioning

Nigerian operators will find the bidding for projects in other African countries easier because common standards bring down the cost of entry with AFRIPERF. Conversely, African competitors will find easier access to Nigerian opportunities under these harmonized rules. It means that Nigerian companies need to sharpen their competitive advantage through operational excellence, cost discipline, and demonstrated ESG performance.

Risks and possible downsides for local players

Generally, AFRIPERF harmonization efforts are positive for market integrity, but several possible risks are noteworthy:

• Increased cost of compliance: Costs will escalate as new reporting, verification, and environmental obligations that all legacy systems companies will have to support are brought in.
• Regulatory overreach or duplication: Some companies might even be threatened with dual requirements if national regulators were to use AFRIPERF standards as a yardstick to justify what they do domestically.
• Power realignment: The push for more regulation of contracts or the centralization of approvals (already visible in various policy discussions in Nigeria) could significantly alter the commercial leverage and change the way contracts are negotiated. A draft policy debate in Nigeria even suggested moving some of the regulator’s powers over contracts to the regulator itself, an almost earth-shaking change in commercial terms if pursued. 

Practical steps to be taken by local oil and gas companies 

• Conduct a readiness review: Ensure that the current reporting systems, data quality issues, and HSE practices are mapped against expected AFRIPERF standards. 
• Improve data and export tracking capabilities: Given continuing trends towards real-time cargo tracking, improve digital reporting, ERP systems, and export compliance workflows. 
• Invest in building certifications and capacity: The following steps are highlighted: initial focus on ISO, environmental audits, and recognized HSE certifications, visible to regional partners and financiers. 
• Strengthen governance and transparency: Increased board oversight of compliance, anti-corruption controls, and public disclosure practices to meet investor expectations.
• Engage with regulators and the forum: By joining industry associations, participate in shaping realistic implementation timelines and preventing unexpected punishment.
• Prepare finance and insurance dossiers: Work with banks and insurers to document improvements and obtain competitive terms tied to compliance milestones.
• Establish upgrade programs for suppliers: Help key vendors meet technical and safety standards so your supply chain does not become a bottleneck.

Conclusion

AFRIPERF represents perhaps the most significant milestone in the laws governing the oil and gas sectors in Africa. For Nigeria, leading the forum presents both strategic opportunities and administrative burdens since the country would remain at the center of shaping future rules while committing itself to meeting the standards it is advocating. The message to local oil and gas companies is clear: harmonization exposes increased market opportunities and enhanced confidence for investors, but compliance, transparency, and technical performance will also be called to a greater test.