Tinubu to unveil $400m indigenous crude oil terminal in Rivers

President Bola Tinubu will on October 8 inaugurate the $400 million Otakikpo Onshore Crude Oil Export Terminal in Rivers State, marking Nigeria’s first new crude export facility in more than five decades.

The project, developed by Green Energy International Limited (GEIL), operators of the Otakikpo field in OML 11 at Ikuru Town in Andoni Local Government Area, is Nigeria’s first wholly indigenous onshore crude export terminal. The last onshore terminal of its kind — the Forcados Terminal — was commissioned in 1971.

According to GEIL, the commissioning will draw top dignitaries including the Minister of State for Petroleum (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, as well as industry stakeholders and regulators.

In a statement on Thursday, GEIL’s Executive Director of Legal and Corporate Services, Olusegun Ilori, said the facility was a direct response to President Tinubu’s push to expand crude output and resolve long-standing evacuation challenges.

“This project is a strategic infrastructure that supports the administration’s commitment to raising output while reducing costs,” Ilori said.

For years, industry operators have cited evacuation bottlenecks as one of the biggest hurdles to meeting the Federal Government’s crude production target of three million barrels per day. The new Otakikpo terminal is designed to ease those constraints by providing an outlet for more than 40 stranded oil fields, unlocking millions of barrels of crude that had been inaccessible.

The terminal has an initial storage capacity of 750,000 barrels, with room to scale up to three million barrels, and a loading capacity of 360,000 barrels per day. The facility is also expected to significantly cut production costs for indigenous oil producers.

Chairman and Chief Executive of GEIL, Professor Anthony Adegbulugbe, described the terminal as a landmark for Nigeria’s energy sector.

“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 $400 million Otakikpo terminal comes at a time when Nigeria’s oil industry is battling declining production, vandalism, oil theft, and rising operational costs. The commissioning, according to officials, signals renewed efforts by the Federal Government to restore investor confidence and reposition the sector as a driver of economic growth.