Engr. Michael Ben Honoured With NIPetGE Fellowship Award

Engr. Michael Ben Andino has conferred with the Fellowship Honour of the Nigerian Institution of Petroleum and Gas Engineers (NIPetGE) at the 2025 Annual Conference.

The gathering that brought together icons, innovators, and thought leaders shaping the present and future of Nigeria’s energy landscape.

The event, themed: around excellence and ethical leadership in engineering practice, radiated a deep sense of national purpose.

It was a night that celebrated not just achievement, but the profound contributions of industry stalwarts whose intellect, sacrifice, and vision continue to steer the nation’s petroleum and gas enterprise towards sustainability and global competitiveness.

At the centre of the celebration stood Engr. Michael Ben Andino, a man whose four decades of distinguished service have left indelible imprints across Nigeria’s upstream oil and gas sector.

Described by colleagues as “a leader forged in the fires of technical discipline and professional integrity”, Engr. Andino represents the quintessential petroleum engineer — resilient, resourceful, and relentlessly visionary.

Born and educated in Nigeria, Engr. Andino earned his Bachelor’s degree in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Benin in 1983 — an academic foundation that launched a remarkable career defined by continuous innovation and transformative leadership.

He joined the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in 1986, beginning his professional journey as a Drilling Engineer on the historic Chad Basin Project. His exceptional grasp of drilling dynamics and operational management quickly set him apart as a young engineer with extraordinary promise.

His technical brilliance and pioneering mindset soon found greater expression as he became one of the founding staff of the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC). There, he distinguished himself as both a Drilling and Reservoir Engineer, contributing to early exploration milestones that expanded Nigeria’s indigenous oil development footprint.

Under his strategic direction, Conoil successfully acquired major assets including OPL 2007 (later OML 150), and he led the company’s technical team in the competitive bid for Shell’s OML 30 asset. His operational insights and managerial foresight elevated Conoil’s production profile and strengthened its reputation as one of Nigeria’s foremost indigenous E&P companies.

Engr. Andino continues to drive strategic growth, asset management, and partnership development, collaborating with regulators, investors, and host communities to advance sustainable exploration and production initiatives.

His leadership at Eastlake has become a model for next-generation professionals seeking to merge technical proficiency with ethical and corporate stewardship.

In conferring the Fellowship Honour, NIPetGE recognized not merely a career of longevity, but a legacy of influence — one that mirrors the core values of the Institution: competence, ethics, and service to humanity. The symbolic induction further reinforces the critical place of indigenous expertise in the architecture of Nigeria’s oil and gas advancement.