FG Approves One-million-barrel Oil Terminal for Otakikpo Field

• FG Approves One-million-barrel Oil Terminal for Otakikpo Field

The Federal Government has approved a one-million-barrel crude oil onshore terminal for the Otakikpo marginal field in Oil Mining Licence 11.

Green Energy International Limited, the operator of the field, announced the approval on Sunday after it received the nod of the Department of Petroleum Resources to construct the terminal.

The Director, Corporate Affairs, GEIL, Olusegun Ilori, said the issuance of the Approval to Construct was sequel to DPR’s review of the engineering design for the onshore crude oil storage facility to be built in an industrial park in Ikuru town, Andoni Local Government Area of Rivers State.

In the letter conveying the approval, which was dated April 23, 2019, the DPR said, “We hereby communicate the approval of the Director of Petroleum Resources to you for the detailed engineering design of one million barrels onshore crude oil storage facility project. You may, therefore, proceed to the construction and installation phase of the project.”

Ilori noted that when completed, the proposed Otakikpo Onshore Terminal would be the first indigenous onshore terminal and also the first to be built in the country in the past five decades.

He said the construction of the proposed terminal was expected to start soon by a consortium of internationally reputable contractors.

“The project is part of the development strategy to expand production and de-risk the evacuation of crude from the Otakikpo field, thereby reducing drastically the cost of its evacuation from the field,” Ilori noted in a statement issued in Abuja.

He added, “The proposed terminal will be strategically located to also benefit several otherwise stranded oil fields in the Eastern Niger Delta axis by providing commercially viable and operationally efficient access to the export market.”

The Chairman, GEIL, Prof. Anthony Adegbulugbe, commended DPR for the prompt approval of the proposed onshore terminal project and stated that the facility was in synergy with government’s strategy to boost oil production while at the same time reducing the cost of production.

“The cost of evacuation using the onshore terminal will significantly reduce the export evacuation cost for oil production in the Otakikpo field and other nearby production fields,” he said.

Adegbulugbe said the terminal would provide employment for hundreds of people from the host community, effectively linking the upstream benefits to the local, state and national economy.

He explained that safety considerations were a priority in the engineering design and that the terminal equipment would be adequately selected and installed in a manner that would prevent equipment damage and environmental pollution.