President Bola Tinubu is scheduled to inaugurate the $400 million Otakikpo Onshore Crude Oil Export Terminal in Rivers State on October 8, marking the first new crude export facility built in Nigeria in over half a century. The last such facility, the Forcados Terminal, was commissioned in 1971.
Developed by Green Energy International Limited, operators of the Otakikpo field in OML 11, Ikuru town, Andoni Local Government Area of Rivers State, the terminal is the first wholly indigenous onshore terminal built in Nigeria. According to GEIL’s Executive Director of Legal and Corporate Services, Olusegun Ilori, the project aligns with President Tinubu’s drive to boost crude oil production and address Nigeria’s long-standing evacuation challenges.
The terminal is expected to serve as a lifeline to more than 40 stranded oil fields by providing a reliable evacuation outlet, potentially unlocking millions of barrels of crude previously trapped underground. With an initial storage capacity of 750,000 barrels, expandable to three million barrels, and a loading capacity of 360,000 barrels per day, the facility is projected to significantly reduce production costs for indigenous producers.
GEIL Chairman and Chief Executive Professor Anthony Adegbulugbe described the terminal as a “game-changing national infrastructure,” emphasizing that it provides not just a storage solution but a pathway for stranded oil fields to contribute to the economy. The inauguration underscores renewed efforts by the Federal Government to restore investor confidence in Nigeria’s oil sector, which has struggled with declining production, pipeline vandalism, oil theft, and rising operational costs.
Source: punchng.com