Oil & Gas
Olu of Warri , Kings Good Hosts of Niger Delta Crude Oil Bearing Communities
The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lee Engineering & Construction Limited, Dr. Leemon Ikpea, who has been a major player in the oil and gas sector of the Nigerian economy for 46 years, has commended the good nature and behavior of some traditional rulers in the oil-bearing communities of Nigeria.
Singling out the Olu of Warri, Ogiamen Atuwase III, His Royal Majesty Pere Ayemi Botu and some Ovies in the Niger Delta Region of the country for their accommodation and cordial relations with oil companies operating in their communities.
Chief Ikpea, however, appealed to leaders and communities in the region, who are hostile to oil and gas companies in their domains to be more charitable and follow the good examples of the kings and people earlier mentioned saying, “Many Nigerians are very hardworking, they are equally very dedicated people, while majority of the Nigerian youths are ready to work, but if the work is not available and the environments where this work is available are hostile, it then becomes a problem, the country will invariably not prosper as expected.
That is why my advice to most communities where I find myself is to always tell them, that if they are lucky to find some people coming to invest and site their companies in their communities, the least that is expected of them is to cooperate with such company owners and the workers they bring to work in their communities. They are therefore to consider such an act as a rare blessing, which they should be grateful about. The Community leaders and the people should endeavor to work with such people to bring progress to their places. If this is done, the company’s management will be watching and noting developments in due course the company will be left with no other option than to give back to these host communities for all their assistance in helping them to grow.Sadly, in some communities in the Niger Delta Region, the hostility of the leaders and people in these communities usually prevents companies coming to set up in their areas because they don’t feel safe.
He continued, “I Chief Leemon Ikpea grew up in Warri. Warri in those good old days. While growing up in Warri as a young man, we had oil companies like MacDemond, alongside very many oil companies in Warri then. There were so many other activities going on in that City, but unfortunately, Warri unlike in the past is today an empty shadow of its old self. As we speak today, there is virtually nothing going on in Warri. For example, it is because I am a Warri boy, that is why I located my official base in Warri, just because I can’t run away from where, I grew up.
I must therefore seize this opportunity to thank His Royal Majesty, Ogiamen Atunwase III alongside other first class kings and Ovies in the Niger Delta Region for being such a wonderful host. I do have a very strong personal relationship with these kings. They have all been doing their very best to assist me and also help my outfits in their communities in doing their businesses effortlessly without any rift or rancur. This we are very grateful about. My appeal therefore, is for some leaders and communities in this same region to learn to co-operate with upcoming contractors trying to do business in their communities. My appeal is for them to cooperate with these young companies so that they also grow as we did. As most of the sponsors of these young companies are Nigerians they are not foreigners, even if they are foreigners, community leaders and their people need to learn to work with these people for them to grow and help develop their places. Nigerians want to give back to Nigerians and as such, it is unreasonable for Nigerians to be seen to be hostile to fellow Nigerians. Once we learn to show love to one another God’s blessings will surely follow.
On the Nigerian Senate investigating committee verdict, that commended him, for coming clean, not found wanting of any infractions in the N250 billion Naira Gas Expansion programme Fund Probe that was recently concluded, that gave a clean bill of health to Lee Engineering Company Limited, Chief Dr. Leemon Ikpea said, “My company and I, regard this verdict as a victory for the truth, integrity, industry and competence and an honour to all the genuine players in the Nigerian crude oil and gas industries. Dr. Ikpea in this exclusive interview, said, “I guess you know where we are coming from, as this is my 46 years in the Nigerian Crude oil and gas industry. We built the Warri Refinery in the early 70s, I was a Manager in that Refinery in 1984 when we were building the place. Not as a staff but as one of the major contractors that built that place. So, over the years, I have come to know and appreciate greatly what integrity is. I know what it is to be honest and hardworking. It is therefore usually very sad when some group of people for no justifiable reasons try to blackmail one, for selfish and malicious reasons, such an ungodly act gives one severe pains in the process.
He added, “Have you been to Lee Engineering facility in Warri? In that facility alone, we are taking care of more than four thousand people, multiply this number by three persons for example in a family, times this number that will give you on average about 12,000 people in one facility alone. I have over these years invested in this factory in Warri and I have spent more than over 100 million dollars in this place alone. At this point, we are at the completion stages of this particular factory. At some point in recent times, I discovered that we were short of funds. As expected I borrowed some money from my banks which is normal, as no business man or woman can survive without occasionally accessing some facilities from the banks. I therefore approached my banks and borrowed some money from them, I was therefore shocked and surprised when I saw an advertorial in the newspapers which included the name of Lee Engineering among the companies that allegedly borrowed money from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which was not true. If you must know the truth, I have never done anything in my entire life with the CBN and I honestly do not know anybody up till this day in the CBN. I was therefore shocked when the name of my company was included alongside companies that allegedly borrowed money from the CBN. So, the Nigerian Senate Committee headed by Senator Agom Jarigbe, invited my company alongside other companies accused of these infractions, about a week or so ago to Abuja, I went to the place with all my staff, it was at that particular meeting that I told the members of the Senate Committee investigating this matter, to endeavor to go to Warri and see for themselves our little efforts, what we have been doing over the years in Warri. The committee members truly went to our facility in Warri and they were amazed at what they saw on the ground. I was not there with them as I was already out of the country on some other assignments when they came visiting our facility, as I just returned back to the country from Qatar on Tuesday, the 5th of December 2023. I was told by my staff, who were on the ground to receive them, that they were highly impressed.
Dr. Ikpea further stressed, “It is human nature to see petty jealousy and attempt to blackmail people, who are minding their daily businesses and doing their jobs to the best of their ability.
Dr. Ikpea said, “As far as I am concerned, there is absolutely nothing for anybody to be jealous about me. Or an attempt to shoot me down, as at today that I am speaking with you, I have done my little beat at helping the people and communities where I operate to the best of my ability. As a way of giving back to the communities where I operate as part of my company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and as a way of thanking God, for his good gesture towards me, and to appreciate better the good God in his infinite wisdom has bestowed on me as Chief Leemon Ikpea, I have trained more than 50 doctorate degrees holders in various fields of endeavours. Most of these people I have never met in person and they are not my relatives or tribes men and women. Most of these people are already working. While two of these boys I trained are presently in the United States Marines corps serving the United States Government in whatever capacity they find themselves. Before taking up the responsibility of training these boys, who are today in the U.S. Marine Corps, I had never met them. I only saw their names on social media and that was how I took up the responsibility of training them. In the same spirit, I have again trained more than 200 students in various institutions across Nigeria. As we speak, so many people are enjoying my personal sponsorship and scholarships. Ditto for sick, fragile, and weak people especially elderly in the society. Men and women, who were in their sick beds at the point of death, which God used me to rescue and help to restore their health. Many of these people I sponsored their medical trips to India, Germany, London and the United State of America. As we speak and just recently, I paid for all the medical bills of an old man from Effurun Community in Delta State, he is presently in London taking treatment. This particular man was in the intensive care unit in a hospital in Port Harcourt when his people got in touch with me. These honestly are the things that give me immense joy as a person. I always want people to be happy through me, not unnecessary pettiness, jealousy and blackmail that some people get involved in that makes no meaning to me. This is why Chief Dr. Ikpea is different from most people.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Gas, Senator Agom Jarigbe, who headed the Senate panel that oversee how the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) intervention fund was disbursed and spent, in a personal letter dated, Tuesday, December 5th 2023, addressed to the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Lee Engineering and Construction Limited, declared that the committee found Chief Ikpea and his company not to have committed any infraction as far as the subject matter was concerned. This same letter commended Chief Ikpea for his immense contributions to the growth of the oil and gas industry of the country. Saying that Chief Ikpea’s zeal and development efforts need to be emulated by other companies in Nigeria.
The Federal Government is firming an initiative that will boost oil and gas swap plan, embedded with a regulator-mandated netting mechanism, the first of its kind around the world, to enable refiners to bring down refining costs.
The finer details of this complicated swap mechanism, pitched forward by the present administration, are being worked out by the various stakeholders
The spur is volatility in retail petrol prices, which have rocketed more than sixfold since President Bola Tinubu terminated decades-old fuel subsidies on his inauguration day in May 2023, and the promise the move holds for the affordability of the product, and other fuels.
Retail petrol has been defenceless against external pressures that have driven it to extreme price levels in Nigeria, since the US-Iran war started in February, up by 22.7 per cent.
This has continued to weigh on consumer budgets so profoundly that regulators are now stepping up consultations more tenaciously to introduce reforms to ease the pressure on businesses and households.
In August, the idea of a crude oil and gas swap system that pairs domestic producers up with refineries with a view to compressing input costs and delivery time was discussed at a meeting between the midstream sector’s top watchdog and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) in Abuja.
The structure is in the works. The proposal is currently engaging other players, with Eyesan noting that discussions on the crude oil component of the swap are still rudimentary.
The operational asset-exchange framework of the swap allows two distant producers, who are close to each other’s delivery points (refineries in this case), to switch volumes.
This gives them ample room to leverage the proximity of their bases to such destinations to save the massive logistics expenses involved in shipping crude across the supply chain.
The volume differences, quality API differentials, as well as delivery margins, are then netted off at a proposed commercial clearing house.
At the time, 27 of the 63 companies producing gas in the country had approved quotas to supply the market. However, just 23 of them were actively doing so.
The gas swap framework, on that score, permits operators unable to evacuate their gas for certain technical constraints to get a leg-up from counterparts with the facilities to supply the gas where it is needed.
It raises hope that the savings on logistics the swap is out to guarantee will directly impact the pump price of locally sold petrol, should the plan fly.
The scheme advances to the drafting stage, once consultation is over, where the energy sector’s technical committees will compose the credit-settlement laws, commercial netting-off guidelines and grade quality valuation standards, setting it up for adoption.
Implementation, if reasonably successful, might institutionalise a model from which oil-producing nations, especially those battling spikes in fuel costs internally, could borrow a leaf.
The netting-off feature of the scheme uniquely endows it with a luxury, which similar swap structures in other markets don’t offer.
Under the US crude location/quality swaps, which come closest, midstream operators can exchange cargoes of crude through clearing houses like ICE to avoid physical pipeline backhauls, based on mutual agreements between parties. However, regulation does not obligate such deals.
Dangote Petroleum Refinery, the continent’s largest, based in Lagos, added to the urgency to tame soaring refining costs recently when it revealed that involvement of middlemen raises feedstock costs by USD 3 to USD 4 per barrel in Nigeria.
That is so because crude pricing under Nigeria’s petroleum industry law is tied to Free-on-Board Dated Brent. Producers often claim that not factoring in international freight differentials while selling oil to the home market puts them at a disadvantage, unlike if it is exported.
Much as that is a regulation-backed practice, it unfairly leaves local refiners bearing a cost they are not actually liable for.
Beyond stretching logistics spending for refiners, the pass-on effect of the extra cost on fuel prices complicates affordability for consumers.
The refinery holds the biggest slice of the domestic fuel market, accounting for 87.6 per cent of petrol supply in May, according to the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
That affirms the overpowering implications a slight rise in the refining expenses of a refinery of that scale can have on the majority of Nigeria’s 242.4 million population, the continent’s largest.
The global costs of processing crude feedstock into finished products are accelerating to unprecedented levels across regions, due to a refining shortfall.
A note by Goldman Sachs, cited by Bloomberg in a report on August 31, suggested that the trouble has been compounded by attacks on refineries in the Middle East and Russia that are driving margins to new highs.
Russia had, in the last week of July, elongated its ban on petrol and diesel exports until January of the year ahead, making the global fuel market tighter.
Diesel is projected to be the worst-hit, with the New York-based investment bank anticipating the refining margins to reach $63 per barrel in the US and an average of USD 49 in the EU in 2027.
It marks a 133.3 per cent surge for US refiners and 157.9 per cent for their EU peers from previous forecasts.
As of August 26, the daily time rates of chartering a tanker from the Middle East to China had surpassed USD 600,000, the second time in history that has happened, Reuters stated, citing LSEG data, pressuring refining costs.
In India, a shortage of physical oil supply is pointing refiners to the expensive spot market as traders request premiums of USD 3 to USD 4 per barrel amid a narrow supply condition that shows no signal of improving soon.
The risk factor of transporting cargoes through troubled maritime routes is giving traders grounds to price crude higher.
Brazil’s state-owned oil company Petrobras, the largest in South America, reported in its half-year 2026 corporate results that average refining cost rose 15.1 per cent to USD 3.21 per barrel, compared to a year ago.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) said it is activating multiple pathways aimed at transforming Nigeria into a global gas hub.
NNPC Ltd.’s Executive Vice President, Gas, Power & New Energy, Olalekan Ogunleye disclosed this on Monday, while speaking at the 2026 Gas Technology & Exhibition Conference (GASTECH), taking place in Bangkok, Thailand.
Ogunleye, who spoke on a panel themed: “The New LNG Order: Leadership Strategies for Energy Security and Growth” said as geopolitics, conflict and other factors continue to affect global energy supply and demand, Nigeria is leveraging its over 215 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of proven reserves to power domestic industrialization and expand export reach.
“Gas development and monetisation from Nigeria’s standpoint is a purely commercial play. NNPC Ltd. is implementing a Gas Master Plan (GMP) engineered as a gap-to-potential tool to move Nigeria from a 215tcf reserves position to above 600tcf,” Ogunleye stated.
He explained that the Company’s focus is hinged on reinforcing coordination, anchored on the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), Decade of Gas Framework and the GMP, with the near-term target to ramp up national production of gas to 10 billion standard cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) by 2027 and 12 Bcf/d by 2030.
Ogunleye observed that Nigeria is already a reliable global supplier of gas on a major expansion drive, citing key LNG projects such as Trains 1-6 which produce 22 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) and has exported over 6,000 LNG cargoes since 1999, as well as Train 7 which is due for completion in 2027.
He said Nigeria’s geographical advantage (well-positioned for the Atlantic Basin and Asian markets) has placed the country as a strategic supplier to global markets, an advantage that is complemented by Nigeria’s substantial gas resource base and a national focus on gas development.
He said Nigeria’s domestic gas utilisation and gas for export are not mutually exclusive, as the country has adopted a dual pathway which leverages exports for foreign exchange earnings while advancing domestic gas utilization to create job opportunities, deepen energy security, and economic wellbeing.
Ogunleye said Nigeria has de-risked new LNG projects through a robust legal and regulatory framework supported by attractive fiscal incentives.
“With continued efforts towards stable security, competitive gas pricing and assured gas supply, there is no better time for investors and financiers to confidently participate in the development of Nigeria’s LNG projects,” Ogunleye concluded.
GASTECH is the world’s largest exhibition and conference focused on natural gas, LNG, hydrogen and low-carbon solutions. Now in its 54th edition, the conference brings together about 50,000 participants from over 150 countries ranging from energy experts, CEOs, policymakers, investors and technology leaders to discuss the future of energy security, LNG supply, infrastructure investment and decarbonisation.
Nigeria’s crude oil and condensate production rose by 0.4 per cent to 1,677,777 barrels per day (bpd) in August 2026.
The Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) disclosed this in its crude oil and condensate statistics report released on Sunday.
The commission said crude oil production, excluding condensate, averaged 1,500,190 bpd during the month under review.
It added that Nigeria met its Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) crude oil quota for the fourth consecutive month.
According to the report, combined crude oil and condensate production fluctuated between a daily low of 1.
64 million barrels and high of 1.71 million barrels.The report showed that Bonny Terminal recorded the highest average production at 320.04 thousand barrels per day (kbpd).
Forcados Terminal followed closely, recording an average daily production of 317.40 kbpd during the month.
“Qua Iboe Terminal recorded an average production of 171.72kbpd of crude oil and condensates,” the report said.
It added that Escravos Oil Terminal recorded a daily average production of 131.71 kbpd during the period.
Bonga ranked fifth among the highest-producing terminals, with an average output of 92.50 kbpd of crude oil.
The NUPRC attributed the modest increase in August production largely to the resolution of operational challenges involving the Single Buoy Mooring (SBM) at the Erha field.
The commission said the challenges had adversely affected production performance in the preceding month.
It explained that restoring normal evacuation and production operations at the Erha field contributed positively to overall production volumes in August.
“Production activities across most other producing assets remained relatively stable,” the report said.
It said operators continued implementing measures to optimise production efficiency, maintain asset integrity and minimise operational disruptions.
The commission added that routine production and crude evacuation operations were generally sustained across the industry during the period.
“These supported the observed improvement in output,” it said.
The report described the August increase as modest but said it reflected continuing industry efforts to address operational bottlenecks.
It said stakeholders were also working to restore affected production capacity and support sustained growth in the coming months.
The commission said operators remained focused on improving asset reliability and operational resilience across Nigeria’s upstream petroleum sector.
It added that intervention programmes were being advanced to strengthen production performance and reduce disruptions.
The August performance, according to the NUPRC, underscored the importance of resolving operational constraints promptly.
It also highlighted the need for effective asset management and continued collaboration among industry stakeholders.
Such measures, the commission said, remained critical to safeguarding and improving Nigeria’s crude oil production capacity. (NAN)
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