The Chairman of Green Energy International Limited (GEIL), Prof. Anthony Adegbulugbe, has disclosed that the firm’s establishment of the first indigenous $400 million onshore oil Otakikpo Terminal in Rivers State will play a significant role in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria.
According to the Chief Executive Officer of GEIL, the Otakikpo Terminal is a project whose time has come—the terminal results from a two-year investment after 50 years of relying on those built by foreigners.
Adegbulugbe stated this during an interview with select journalists in Abuja. He added that the terminal will meet expectations and change the oil and gas industry narrative.
With the completion of the terminal, President Bola Tinubu is expected to inaugurate the facility in due course.
Speaking on the uniqueness of Otakikpo Terminal, the Green Energy boss said, “The whole idea is a project whose time has come. Right now, we have an ageing network of export infrastructure that has been a limiting factor to oil production in Nigeria.
“We have put in place a modular facility of 750,000 barrels storage capacity that is expandable to 3,000,000 barrels, and we are working with relevant stakeholders to keep recording successes”.
Adegbulugbe further disclosed that the terminal will attract four investors, promoting the oil sector’s positive development.
He said, “The Otakikpo terminal, which is the newest, is catering for four sets of E and P companies. The first set is those who have small reserves far away from the oil export infrastructure pipeline, and they can’t afford to build a pipeline because of the small reserves”
“This time around, they have a solution through a trucking option. That is, they can truck 1,000-1,500 barrels into our terminal. We have an excellent road network for getting to the terminal. So, if you are around 50 kilometres or thereabouts, you can come to Otakikpo terminal.
“Then, another set of companies has fields around creeks where they can’t do any trucking, but they can do barging. Again, we cater for those in that category. They can barge or even aggregate and come to where we call kilometre 6 because we already have a pipeline from our field to 6 kilometres offshore, and it is a bi-directional, which we are using right now for our export as we can turn it around”.
“You can bring your barge to kilometre 6, pump your oil onshore and from onshore it goes directly into our terminal. So that again gives succour to those fields, and there are so many of them”.
“The third set of Investors are those with fields 20 kilometres offshore. One of the mitigating factors for them when exporting is that they may not have enough capital to facilitate the required facility. Again, we have a 23-kilometre bi-directional pipeline offshore”.
Adegbulugbe further said, “They can have a smaller vessel, produce and come to kilometre 23 and pump again onshore, and they can export
The fourth set is the companies within 40 kilometres of us. Even if they have enough money for the required infrastructure, there is theft. They produce a hundred barrels and sometimes get paid about 80% with a 20% loss, which is impacting their bottom line. Again, we offer a solution. “
Regarding the safety strategies implemented, the GEIL boss disclosed that the pipelines are designed in three phases.
He said, “All the pipelines coming to us are designed to be three-phase, multipurpose solutions. That is, you give us your oil, give us water, give us your gas. Gas in that pipeline is relatively safe from vandalism, so we offer that solution.”
“So you are sure that if you bring your one hundred barrels to our terminal, you can get paid for 100 barrels. This is the kind of option we are bringing to the table”.
It is instructive to note that until the end of March 2025, Nigeria had five large-sized onshore crude oil terminals, each with the capacity to pump 300,000 barrels of oil per day into seaborne export transportation units.
The terminals include the Bonny terminal, built by Shell Petroleum and now operated by Renaissance Africa Energy Limited; the Qua Iboe terminal, built by Mobil Producing and now operated by Seplat Energy; the Brass Oil River Terminal, built by Nigerian Agip and now operated by Oando; the Forcados terminal, built by Shell Petroleum and now operated by Renaissance Africa Energy Limited; and the Escravos terminal, constructed and operated by Chevron.
For the record, these five terminals export about 50 per cent of Nigerian crude oil condensate. They were built by multi-nationals over 50 years ago to receive crude from fields operated by these firms and export it to foreign markets.
The development explains why GEIL’s establishment of Otakikpo Terminal in Rivers State will be a game changer and remain a reference point in Nigeria’s oil and gas exploration and production.
The newly constructed Otakikpo Terminal boasts an initial storage capacity of 750,000 barrels, potentially expanding to 3 million barrels. It also features a 360,000 barrels per day pumping capacity for loading export tankers, making it one of Nigeria’s energy landscape’s most significant infrastructure projects.
The project, completed ahead of schedule in under two years, has already made history as an African operator’s first privately developed crude oil terminal.
With an initial investment exceeding $400 million and a full-phase development projection of $1.3 billion, GEIL’s commitment to expanding Nigeria’s oil export infrastructure is evident.
The Otakikpo terminal is designed to accommodate up to 250,000 barrels per day of crude injection, while the Otakikpo field currently produces around 10,000 barrels per day.
The terminal opens strategic opportunities for third-party producers, particularly over 40 nearby stranded fields with more than 3 billion barrels of oil equivalent (BOE).
Beyond supporting stranded reserves, the terminal’s proximity to the Ogoni fields aligns with President Bola Tinubu’s administration’s pledge to revitalise the Ogoni and Opobo fields, which have remained underdeveloped for over 30 years.
By unlocking these assets, GEIL’s infrastructure provides cost-effective evacuation for stranded oil, positioning Nigeria for increased production and export growth.
As Nigeria modernises its oil infrastructure, completing GEIL’s Otakikpo crude oil terminal underscores its capacity for innovative energy solutions, which will foster sustainable growth for years.
