DPR warns against distortion of lab results

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has warned operators of oil and gas laboratory services against shortchanging their clients and compromising results of data analysis from their laboratories.

The Acting Director of DPR, Alhaji Shakur Rufai, who spoke at the 3rd Oil and Gas Industry Laboratory Stakeholders’ workshop in Lagos, stressed the need to chart a sustainable path towards uncompromised and consistent quality of services and integrity of results.

Alhaji Shakur who was represented by the Deputy Director, Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) Division, Dr. Musa Zagi said the workshop themed ‘Enhancing laboratory best practices and capacity building towards promoting sustainable development in the Nigerian oil and gas industry’ seeks to chart a new direction for laboratory managers and operators to embrace best practices in the industry. He also stressed the need to ensure adequate supervision of all their processes from the point of samples collection to analysis, up to the point of decision making. “We are going to track all the activities to ensure that the best international standards are followed up within the industry because that is what the industry wants. We desire the best and we are going to get the best from their services in the industry,” he said while he advised the operators not only to view their operations or businesses as money-making ventures but ensure that their services meet global standards.

According to him, the quality and integrity of the data or results churned out from laboratories in the sector of the economy is a critical ingredient in decision-making for both regulators and operators without which there can be no real value addition and sustainability. He therefore noted that laboratory practices should be seen as a critical and sensitive component which inputs are critical for decision-making across the oil and gas value chain.