President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has commissioned the $400million Green Energy International Limited (GEIL) crude oil export terminal in Otakikpo, Rivers State, where he informed the people that the government is already engaging them for the resolution of Ogoni issues.
The terminal, being the first indigenous one, came five decades after the previous ones.
Represented by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, he said that with the resolution of the issues, the Otakikpo terminal will evacuate the crude oil produced from their land.
He said, ‘I need to state that in the commitment of the government that is already talking with the Ogoni people to resolve the Ogoni problem.
‘And once the Ogoni problem is resolved, this will be the best terminal that will evacuate the crude oil we produce from Ogoni.’
The President, who sought the cooperation of Ogoni leaders for the production of the crude oil in their land, noted that the resource would never be beneficial to either the indigenes or the government when it lies idle.
Tinubu said, ‘And that is why we are calling, you know, talking with Ogoni people, Ogoni leaders, to say let’s revert back. If these things are buried there forever, Ogoni will never get any value from those resources. Nigeria will never get any value from those resources.’
He said the era of battling with a lack of finance is over as the $5 billion African Energy Bank (AEB) is about to commence operations.
According to him, the worst challenge in the upstream operation is access to finance, and the promoters of AEB have met all its obligations for the operations.
His words: ‘Let me also, you know, assure Green Energy that the era of perhaps looking elsewhere for finance will soon be over.
‘We have discovered that the biggest challenge we have in Africa is access to, you know, finance. And that was why we’ve come up with the African Energy Bank, which is ready to go. Nigeria, as the host country, has met its obligations.
‘We have met all our obligations, legal, financial. We have met all our obligations. We are waiting, you know, for the bank to take off, which I think will take off, you know, any moment from now.’
He commended the management of GEIL, recalling that the indigenous firm started from a marginal field the same time as other awardees who spent their finances on private jets, while GEIL decided to build an export terminal to create value in the industry.
He assured the company and other operators that are keeping to the terms of their licenses of total support and collaboration.
Speaking, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Chief Executive Officer, Engr. Gbenga Komolafe, the terminal is historic on two levels.
According to him, it expands Nigeria’s crude export infrastructure at a critical time and demonstrates the capacity of Nigerian operators to deliver world-class projects once thought possible only for international major players.
He further noted that the Otakiko terminal is significant to the present national crude oil production, that is, about 1.8million barrels, because the efficiency of evacuation and export is critical.
Komolafe also said that by creating an alternative export hub in Rivers State, the Otakikpo terminal reduces over-reliance on existing terminals, many of which are operating at near capacity and are exposed to security and pipeline challenges.
He said the industry’s indigenous operators have evolved to the stage of accounting for 30 per cent of the national production.
Meanwhile, the GEIL Chief Executive Officer, Prof. Anthony Adegbulugbe, said the storage capacity of the terminal is 750,000 barrels, which is expandable to 3 million barrels.
He also said it has a pumping capacity of 360,000 barrels per day. The CEO added that since June 2025, the company has already completed four export operations, totalling 1 million barrels of crude oil.
He said beyond the numbers, the terminal is a catalyst for national renewal as it opens the door for more than 40 stranded fields in the region, with over 3 million barrels of reserves, long held back by a lack of export infrastructure.
According to him, the fields alone could contribute more than 200,000 barrels per day to the country’s production.
Adegbulugbe added that ‘with this terminal, their potential can finally be unlocked.’