President Tinubu To Inaugurate $400 Million Rivers Crude Export Terminal

Anthony Ufoh

The $400 million Otaikipo Onshore Crude Oil Export Terminal in Rivers State is set to be inaugurated on October 8, and the facility will be the first of such construction after 50 years.

Green Energy International Limited operates the Otakikpo field in OML 11, located in Ikuru town in the Andoni Local Government Area of the state.

The facility is the first Nigerian-built onshore terminal built in Nigeria, with the Forcados terminal being the last of such a facility commissioned in 1971.

The inauguration is expected to attract top government officials, including the Minister of State for Petroleum (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, and key stakeholders across the oil and gas sector.

According to a statement signed by GEIL’s Executive Director of Legal and Corporate Services, Olusegun Ilori, on Thursday, the terminal aligns with President Tinubu’s drive to boost crude oil production and address 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.

Industry operators have consistently highlighted evacuation bottlenecks as a major obstacle to meeting the Federal Government’s production target of three million barrels per day.

The Otakikpo 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 also projected to significantly reduce production costs for indigenous producers.

Chairman and Chief Executive of GEIL, Professor Anthony Adegbulugbe, described 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 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 in recent years.