The Petroleum board’s duties are government by the Petroleum Law 1952 and including the granting of petroleum rights and supervision over the implementation of these rights; advising the MNI Minister, the Director General of the Ministry and other entities within the ministry on all matters regarding the implementation of the Petroleum Law.

In accordance with the criteria and work procedures that were determined at the MNI ministry regarding the granting of Petroleum rights and supervision thereof, it is incumbent upon the Petroleum board to accompany each new request for a petroleum right, to check its professional and financial capacities of the contender and to help the contender prepare his request to the level required so that it can be submitted to the relevant professional board regarding oil rights at the Ministry, to be then submitted to be debated in front of the advisory council of the Petroleum Law and to receive the council’s recommendations. The next stage consists of the Petroleum board summarizing all the issues with the contender up until the phase that the petroleum right has been granted.

Any petroleum right that is granted includes mostly certain conditions that need to be met, with relate to the work plan presented by the contender to be carried out on the block that he has requested his right for. These work plans relate to the contender’s efforts to locate a suitable drilling prospect, to undertake the drilling in question and to analyze the different formations through which the drill has penetrated.

In order to submit a professional expression of opinion (geologists, geophysicists or engineering) and to asset the correct degree of due diligence of oil and gas explorers, as per the letter of the law, it is incumbent upon Petroleum board or anyone working on their behalf, to accompany in so far as possible the different prospects, both at the planning phase (by following up on the work plans submitted and their implementation) as well as during the drilling stage and throughout production testing. This is all carried out by members of the Petroleum board, who if needed also use data or the assistance of the geological institute, the geophysical institute or other relevant organizations such as Universities. Another aspect of the Petroleum board relates to the engineering aspect of the drilling plan, from the phase of receiving the drilling plan and throughout the entire drilling process and up to the phase of receiving the decommissioning report of the drilling. For those prospects that enter into the production and development phase, the Petroleum board accompanies the work plan up until production and resources estimate.

Special focus is given by the board on matters relating to the cementing of the casing string in order to prevent potential leakage and the transfer of liquids between the different layers via the different drilling parts. Supervision of the different engineering aspects of the drilling also includes supervision of production testing if this takes places and includes assistance with clearance from custom of all the equipment and material needed for the oil and gas exploration and drilling process.

If oil or gas has been discovered the Petroleum board will accompany the whole process from production including any potential problems that might occur with the borehole and including issues relating to the payment of royalties owed to the Treasury.

The members of the Petroleum board keep in constant contact with the oil and gas exploration companies and need to ensure they receive the required reports from the companies (which includes results and sample, including rock samples and). They need to meet with the representatives from the companies both in their offices and on the field and during all the intermediary stages to ensure themselves of the work that is being carried out and that the companies are meeting their stated objectives even before the works have been completed, at which stage a final report needs to be submitted. After reports have been received the board members need to appraise the work in question. This appraisal will then be regarded as a pivotal tool to be used by the Ministry vis-à-vis the companies and in regard to any future requests they may make. In addition, these appraisals will later on constitute part of the base on which the Ministry may from time to time rely on to grade a certain block for the chances of success of discovering petroleum.