ABUJA, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)-President Bola Tinubu is set to commission the $400m Otakikpo Onshore Crude Oil Export Terminal in Rivers State on October 8, marking the first time in over 50 years that a new crude export facility is being built in Nigeria.
The terminal, developed by Green Energy International Limited (GEIL) operators of the Otakikpo field in OML 11, Ikuru town, Andoni Local Government Area of Rivers State is the first fully indigenous onshore terminal in the country.
The last similar facility, the Forcados Terminal, was inaugurated in 1971.
The inauguration is expected to draw top dignitaries, including the Minister of State for Petroleum (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara, and other major players in the oil and gas industry.
In a statement signed on Thursday by GEIL’s Executive Director of Legal and Corporate Services, Olusegun Ilori the company said the project aligns with President Tinubu’s efforts to increase crude production and tackle Nigeria’s long-standing evacuation problems.
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“This project is a strategic infrastructure that supports the administration’s commitment to raising output while reducing costs,” Ilori said.
Industry experts have repeatedly identified evacuation challenges as a major barrier to achieving the government’s crude oil production target of three million barrels per day.
The Otakikpo terminal is expected to provide a critical export route for more than 40 stranded oil fields, enabling the evacuation of millions of barrels of crude that have been trapped underground for years.
The facility starts with a storage capacity of 750,000 barrels, which can be expanded to three million barrels, and a loading capacity of 360,000 barrels per day.
This is projected to help indigenous producers cut production costs significantly.
Chairman and Chief Executive of GEIL, Professor Anthony Adegbulugbe, hailed the terminal 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 represents a renewed push by the Federal Government to restore investor confidence in Nigeria’s oil sector, which has faced years of declining output, pipeline vandalism, oil theft, and escalating operational expenses.