Tinubu to Launch Nigeria’s $400m Indigenous Crude Oil Terminal in Rivers

President Bola Tinubu is set to commission the $400 million Otakikpo Onshore Crude Oil Export Terminal in Rivers State on October 8, marking the first new crude export facility to be established in Nigeria in more than five decades.

Developed by Green Energy International Limited (GEIL), operators of the Otakikpo field in OML 11 at Ikuru town, Andoni Local Government Area, the terminal is the first wholly indigenous onshore crude export facility in the country. The last such infrastructure, the Forcados Terminal, was inaugurated in 1971.

The commissioning is expected to draw key figures, including the Minister of State for Petroleum (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri; Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara; and other stakeholders across the oil and gas sector.

In a statement on Thursday, GEIL’s Executive Director of Legal and Corporate Services, Olusegun Ilori, said the terminal aligns with the Federal Government’s efforts to boost crude production and tackle long-standing evacuation challenges. “This project is a strategic infrastructure that supports the administration’s commitment to raising output while reducing costs,” he noted.

For years, industry operators have identified crude evacuation constraints as a major hindrance to achieving the government’s production target of three million barrels per day. The Otakikpo terminal is designed to provide an export solution for more than 40 stranded oil fields, unlocking previously untapped reserves. With an initial storage capacity of 750,000 barrels, expandable to three million barrels, and a daily loading capacity of 360,000 barrels, it is expected to significantly cut production costs for indigenous producers.

GEIL’s Chairman and Chief Executive, Professor Anthony Adegbulugbe, described the project as “a game-changing national infrastructure.” He said: “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.”

The project comes as part of renewed government efforts to restore investor confidence in the oil sector, which has faced declining production, pipeline vandalism, oil theft, and rising operational costs in recent years.