President Bola Tinubu will on October 8 inaugurate the $400 million Otakikpo Onshore Crude Oil Export Terminal in Rivers State, the first new crude export facility to be built in Nigeria in more than 50 years.

The terminal, developed by Green Energy International Limited (GEIL), operators of the Otakikpo field in OML 11, Ikuru Town, Andoni Local Government Area, is also the first wholly indigenous onshore facility in the country. The last such terminal, the Forcados facility, was commissioned in 1971.

The inauguration is expected to draw top government officials, including the Minister of State for Petroleum (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara, and major stakeholders in the oil and gas industry.

In a statement on Thursday, GEIL’s Executive Director of Legal and Corporate Services, Olusegun Ilori, said the project reflects President Tinubu’s agenda to boost crude oil output and tackle long-standing evacuation bottlenecks.

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

Industry operators have long identified evacuation challenges as a key barrier to achieving the Federal Government’s three million barrels per day production target. The Otakikpo terminal is expected to serve as a lifeline for more than 40 stranded oil fields by providing a reliable evacuation route, potentially unlocking millions of barrels of crude currently trapped underground.

With an initial storage capacity of 750,000 barrels—expandable to three million barrels—and a loading capacity of 360,000 barrels per day, the facility is also projected to cut production costs for indigenous producers.

GEIL Chairman and Chief Executive, Professor Anthony Adegbulugbe, described the terminal as a “game-changing national infrastructure.”

“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.

The commissioning comes as the Federal Government intensifies efforts to restore confidence in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, which has been plagued in recent years by declining production, pipeline vandalism, oil theft and escalating operational costs.

Analysts say the project could mark a turning point for indigenous participation in the industry, while also strengthening Nigeria’s capacity to meet production targets and attract fresh investment.