President Bola Tinubu is set 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 five decades.
Developed by Green Energy International Limited (GEIL), operators of the Otakikpo field in OML 11, Ikuru Town, Andoni Local Government Area, the terminal is Nigeria’s first wholly indigenous onshore crude export facility. The last such infrastructure, the Forcados Terminal, was commissioned in 1971.
The inauguration ceremony is expected to draw top government officials, including the Minister of State for Petroleum (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, as well as industry leaders and stakeholders across the oil and gas sector.
According to a statement issued on Thursday by GEIL’s Executive Director of Legal and Corporate Services, Olusegun Ilori, the project aligns with President Tinubu’s drive to increase crude oil production and resolve Nigeria’s long-standing evacuation challenges.
“This project is a strategic infrastructure that supports the administration’s commitment to raising output while reducing costs,” Ilori said.
Evacuation bottlenecks have long been cited by industry operators as a major hindrance to achieving the Federal Government’s production target of three million barrels per day. The Otakikpo terminal is expected to serve as a lifeline for more than 40 stranded oil fields, providing a reliable export outlet and unlocking millions of barrels of crude previously trapped underground.
The terminal has an initial storage capacity of 750,000 barrels, expandable to three million barrels, with a loading capacity of 360,000 barrels per day. It is projected to significantly lower production costs for indigenous producers while boosting output.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of GEIL, Professor Anthony Adegbulugbe, described the facility as a “game-changing national infrastructure.”
“What we have achieved here is not just a storage solution, but a pathway for about 40 stranded oil fields to finally contribute to the economy,” Adegbulugbe said.
The inauguration highlights renewed efforts by the Federal Government to restore investor confidence in Nigeria’s oil sector, which has faced years of declining production, pipeline vandalism, oil theft, and escalating operational costs.
