President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is set to inaugurate the $400 million Otakikpo Onshore Crude Oil Export Terminal in Rivers State on October 8. This marks the first new onshore crude export terminal built in Nigeria in more than five decades.

The facility, developed by Green Energy International Limited (GEIL), operates the Otakikpo oil field in OML 11, located in Ikuru town, Andoni Local Government Area. It is the first entirely indigenous onshore terminal since the Forcados Terminal was commissioned in 1971.

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

Olusegun Ilori, GEIL’s Executive Director of Legal and Corporate Services, said the terminal aligns with President Tinubu’s push to increase crude oil output and tackle longstanding challenges in crude evacuation. “This terminal is a strategic infrastructure project aimed at boosting production while lowering operational costs for Nigerian producers,” Ilori stated.

The Otakikpo terminal is expected to relieve evacuation bottlenecks affecting over 40 stranded oil fields, potentially unlocking millions of barrels of crude. The facility currently has 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.

GEIL Chairman and CEO, Professor Anthony Adegbulugbe, described the project as a “game-changing infrastructure” for Nigeria’s oil industry. “This terminal is not just a storage solution—it opens the door for nearly 40 previously stranded oil fields to contribute to the national economy,” he said.

The launch of Otakikpo underscores the Federal Government’s renewed efforts to attract investment into the oil sector, which has faced declining production, pipeline vandalism, oil theft, and rising costs in recent years.