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

Top officials, including Minister of State for Petroleum (Oil) Senator Heineken Lokpobiri and Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara, are expected to attend the ceremony.

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

A strategic fix for Nigeria’s evacuation bottlenecks

A worker examines operation of fittings at the new Port Harcourt refinery built in 1989 at the same site where the first refinery in Nigeria was built in 1965 in oil rich Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on September 16, 2015. [Pius Utomi EKPEI/AFP via Getty Images]

Nigeria’s oil industry has long struggled with evacuation bottlenecks, which limit the Federal Government’s ambition to reach three million barrels per day. The new terminal is expected to provide a lifeline to over 40 stranded oil fields, creating a secure evacuation route and unlocking millions of barrels of trapped crude.

With an initial storage capacity of 750,000 barrels, expandable to three million barrels, and a loading rate of 360,000 barrels per day, the facility is projected to reduce costs for indigenous producers while increasing export capacity.

Professor Anthony Adegbulugbe, Chairman and Chief Executive of GEIL, described the development as transformational.

“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,” he said.

From an African perspective, it also highlights how local companies are beginning to lead in building strategic infrastructure once dominated by international oil majors.