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Oando Plc’s historic Obodo Crude lift and rise as Nigeria’s global energy champion

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By Victor Ojelabi

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In a staggering achievement for Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, Oando Trading, a subsidiary of the Wale Tinubu-led Oando Group, etched its name into the nation’s energy history books by becoming the first company to lift Nigeria’s newest crude blend, Obodo.

This development in April 2025 is not just a commercial breakthrough; it symbolises the growing strength and ambition of indigenous oil companies poised to dominate the global energy conversation.

The Obodo crude, a medium sweet blend, is extracted from the onshore OML 150 block operated by Continental Oil & Gas Limited, a company under the ownership of business magnate Dr. Mike Adenuga, Jr., GCON.

The block functions under a production sharing contract with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), headed by Group Chief Executive Officer Bayo Ojulari.

To complete the value chain, the crude was stored and lifted via the FPSO Tamaratokani, a state-of-the-art floating production, storage, and offloading vessel owned by Century Group under the leadership of Ken Etete.

Its strategic location off the Niger Delta coast enables swift access to global markets, ensuring that Nigeria’s oil flows efficiently into the international energy supply.

Oando Trading’s export tanker, Atlantic Spirit, made the historic first lift of Obodo crude, coordinated seamlessly by Century Group’s technical teams.

The symbolic importance of this transaction was not lost on Oando’s CEO, Wale Tinubu, who remarked, “This isn’t just a trade; it’s a message. The message that Nigeria’s energy industry is ready, capable, and rising. One historic barrel at a time.”

This important milestone aligns with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope agenda, which aims to boost Nigeria’s daily oil production by one million barrels.

For stakeholders like NNPCL, Oando, Century Group, and Continental Oil & Gas, the Obodo lift stands as proof to the capability of Nigerian companies to drive national energy goals through indigenous leadership and innovation.

As the Atlantic Spirit sails into international waters bearing Nigeria’s latest crude blend, it carries more than oil; it carries the aspirations of a nation and the emergence of Oando as a true African energy giant with a global vision

But the story of Oando doesn’t end with one successful lift. In fact, it is only the latest chapter in a bold transformation that has seen the company evolve from a local oil marketer to Nigeria’s leading integrated energy solutions provider—and now, a rising global brand in the energy sector.

Central to Oando’s ascendancy is its strategy of acquiring high-value assets to expand its upstream portfolio.

In 2024, Oando acquired a 100% stake in Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited (NAOC) from Italian energy giant Eni S.p.A.

The landmark $783 million transaction was hailed as the “Energy Deal of the Year 2024” at the Nigeria International Energy Summit.

With this acquisition, Oando significantly increased its interest in four critical onshore assets—OMLs 60, 61, 62, and 63—and consolidated its role as a major operator in Nigeria’s oil heartland.

But Oando’s ambitions go beyond national borders.

The company was recently named the preferred bidder to lease the Guaracara refinery in Trinidad and Tobago, a strategic move into the Caribbean energy market.

This expansion marks Oando as one of the few African energy firms extending its footprint into other regions, positioning itself as a truly global player.

Oando’s rise is not just based on strategic vision; it is backed by numbers.

For the financial year ending December 2024, the company posted a 45% increase in revenue, hitting ₦4.1 trillion, up from ₦2.9 trillion in the previous year.

Its total assets soared to ₦7.5 trillion, a nearly threefold rise from ₦2.6 trillion, establishing both aggressive growth and investor confidence.

This growth is underpinned by equally ambitious production targets.

The company has announced plans to increase its daily crude oil output to 100,000 barrels and gas output to 1.5 billion standard cubic feet over the next five years.

These targets place Oando at the centre of Nigeria’s push for energy security and economic transformation.

Also, in an industry often criticised for its environmental impact, Oando is charting a progressive course.

It recently signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a 1.2-gigawatt solar project—the largest in Nigeria’s history.

This bold step into renewables reflects the company’s growing awareness of the global energy transition and its desire to be a part of the solution, not just the status quo.

At the heart of Oando’s transformation is Wale Tinubu, a figure synonymous with strategic leadership in Africa’s energy space.

Recognised as a Global Young Leader by the World Economic Forum and celebrated for his tenacity and foresight, Tinubu has steered Oando through decades of regulatory, operational, and financial challenges to emerge as a beacon of what is possible for African corporations on the world stage.

From the historic lifting of Obodo crude to high-profile global acquisitions and renewable energy ventures, Oando is demonstrating that an indigenous Nigerian firm can be both a national leader and a global competitor.

Its journey exemplifies a broader shift in Africa’s energy narrative; one in which African companies are not just participants but pacesetters in the global energy economy.

As the Atlantic Spirit sails into international waters bearing Nigeria’s latest crude blend, it carries more than oil; it carries the aspirations of a nation and the emergence of Oando as a true African energy giant with a global vision.

 

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Heirs Life Names Pastor Jerry Eze Independent Non-Executive Director

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Heirs

Heirs Life appoints Jerry Eze as an Independent Non-Executive Director to strengthen financial inclusion, consumer trust and insurance adoption (more…)

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Shoreline Group secures US$200 million Afreximbank Facility

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Shoreline Group today announced that African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has approved a US$200 million facility in favour of Shoreline Power Company Limited and co-borrowers including Arkad S.p.A., Shoreline’s majority-owned engineering and construction platform.
Approved in June 2026, the facility was arranged and provided by Afreximbank as sole mandated lead arranger and lender. It provides bonding and working-capital capacity for Arkad’s delivery of the Hassi Bir Rekaiz project and supports Shoreline and its affiliates in developing further pipeline and infrastructure
projects in Nigeria and other permitted jurisdictions.
“This is a defining transaction for Shoreline and Arkad. We built Arkad as an African- sponsored engineering platform capable of competing at the highest level, and it is now delivering against a billion-dollar energy contract. Afreximbank’s US$200 million commitment gives the platform the financial strength to match its engineering capability and pursue further major infrastructure mandates. It demonstrates that African enterprises can assemble the capital, capability and partnerships required to compete for infrastructure at international scale.”
Hassi Bir Rekaiz Phase 2a Arkad holds 44 per cent of the approximately US$1 billion EPCCS-1 contract awarded by Groupement
Hassi Bir Rekaiz (GHBR) to an unincorporated consortium led by Egypt’s Petrojet, which holds 56 percent. EPCCS-1 covers engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning and start-up for the Phase 2a central processing facility and related infrastructure at the Hassi Bir Rekaiz field in Algeria’s Berkine
Basin.
GHBR is the joint operating entity for the licence, held by Sonatrach with 51 per cent and Thailand’s PTTEP with 49 per cent. The project includes a new crude oil processing facility with capacity of 31,500 barrels per day, facilities for associated gas and produced-water treatment, approximately 217 kilometres
of pipelines and the brownfield modifications required to integrate existing Phase 1 infrastructure.
The facilities are designed to support later expansion to 63,000 barrels per day under Phase 2b.
“This financing addresses the instruments that determine whether an EPC contractor can execute at scale: performance guarantees, advance payment guarantees and working capital through the project cycle. Hassi Bir Rekaiz is a demanding scope, combining a new central processing facility, associated treatment systems, pipelines and brownfield integration. With Petrojet, and with the support of Shoreline and Afreximbank, Arkad is focused on disciplined delivery against the project’s safety, quality and schedule requirements.”
The transaction was structured under Afreximbank’s Engineering, Procurement and Construction Initiative, which supports African engineering and construction firms with the financial instruments required to compete for and execute large infrastructure contracts. Afreximbank also supported the Arkad-Petrojet partnership through its EPC twinning work at the Intra-African Trade Fair held in Algiers
in 2025.
According to Afreximbank, the transaction is its first support for a Sub-Saharan African contractor undertaking a major infrastructure project in North Africa. For Shoreline, it demonstrates a practical model for combining African ownership and capital with established international engineering andindustrial capability.

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BUSINESSWOMAN AISHA ACHIMUGU SPEAKS OUT, CALLS FOR PROTECTION OF LIFE AND RESPECT FOR RULE OF LAW

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Nigerian businesswoman and investor Aisha Achimugu has made a public appeal for the protection of her life, her family, and her business interests while alleging a sustained campaign of intimidation, media trial, and asset seizures.

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Achimugu, in a statement Tuesday, said she is facing actions that she described as an affront to the rule of law and natural justice.
She then called for the respect for court orders and for an end to what she termed misleading media coverage about her person and companies.
According to Achimugu, the widow of the late Engr. Sulaiman Achimugu, former Managing Director of the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company, PPMC, she has over the last three decades built businesses in the oil and gas and other sectors, and runs the SAM Empowerment Foundation, SEF, which she said has implemented health, education, and community projects across Nigeria.
The businesswoman, however, alleged that since 2023 she has been the subject of investigations and actions by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Narrating her ordeals, Achimugu noted that in 2023, the EFCC’s Port Harcourt zonal office froze her personal accounts, her children’s accounts, and company accounts linked to the Felak Group, based on an interim forfeiture order.
She said this was connected to a mistaken association with MBA Forex and Capital Investment.
Achimugu stated that in January 2024 she honoured an EFCC invitation with her counsel, clarified her company’s single transaction with MBA Forex, and refunded N58 million by bank draft to the EFCC recovery account.
In March 2025, the businesswoman said she received WhatsApp messages inviting her to the EFCC Port Harcourt office. Her lawyer responded in writing, proposing dates in April 2025. Despite this, she alleged a media campaign began on March 10, 2025 linking her to wrongdoing.
On March 28, 2025, the same day her company, Oceangate Oil & Gas Limited, submitted proof of $20 million payment to NUPRC for oil blocks PPL 302-DO and PPL 3007, subsequently, she claimed the EFCC declared her a “Wanted Person” for “conspiracy and money laundering.” She also alleged that EFCC operatives searched her home that day.
In April 2025, Achimugu said she filed a fundamental rights suit at the Federal High Court, Abuja. But upon returning to Nigeria on April 28, 2025 from a foreign trip, she alleged she was taken into EFCC custody, granted bail by a judge, but released five days later. She also said her international passport was collected.
She alleged further asset actions, including freezing of bank accounts, and the seizure of vehicles from her home in January 2026. She said matters relating to these actions are the subject of ongoing litigation and appeals.
Achimugu also alleged that her United States visa was revoked in April 2025, and that she encountered issues with visa processing related to her Grenadian citizenship, which she linked to media reports citing the EFCC’s declaration.
Achimugu stated that she has invested nearly $90 million in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector in the last five years and has attracted over $100 million in investments into the economy while directly employs close to 200 Nigerians.
However, she said the actions of the anti-graft agency have affected her business operations, international partnerships, and family, including her elderly parents and young children.
Achimugu then called on the National Assembly, the Judiciary, security services, and local and international human rights organizations to examine her case.
She also asked for the protection of her life and properties, respect for court orders, and an end to what she described as a “media trial”.
“I believe that justice delayed is justice denied, and I am not afraid to face the law provided due process is followed. My lawyers are pursuing all legal remedies locally and internationally,” she said.
Achimugu added that she remains committed to Nigeria and to supporting private sector growth.

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