Suezmax tankerLipari has lifted the first crude export cargo from Nigeria’s Otakikpo field, operated by local independent Green Energy International Ltd
The first crude oil cargo from Nigeria’s Otakikpo marginal oil field has been lifted by 2012-builtLipari, a 158,400-dwt Suezmax tanker owned by TMS Tankers of Greece and widely believed to be on charter to Shell.
The vessel, constructed by Samsung Heavy Industries, loaded the cargo at the Otakikpo Onshore Terminal in Rivers State. The terminal is operated by Green Energy International Ltd (GEIL), the field’s licence holder and operator.
According to vessel tracking data, Lipari is currently underway in the Gulf of Guinea and bound for Rotterdam.
The loading marks the operational commencement of Otakikpo’s export infrastructure, including Nigeria’s first privately developed onshore crude oil terminal in over five decades. The terminal is configured to serve both the Otakikpo field and, potentially, other marginal field operators within the region.
GEIL stated the lifting operation took place on 8 June 2025 and involved over 350,000 barrels of crude oil loaded via single-point mooring with a 21-m draught in the Atlantic, avoiding the need to use barge transhipment.
The company noted this follows the successful commissioning of the Otakikpo Onshore Terminal and related production facilities, which pipes the light sweet Otakikpo crude oil to a floating storage unit operated by Anmi.
The Nigerian daily newspaper Vanguard reported the offtake was “supervised by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission and representatives of Crude Oil Marketing Division of the Nigerian National Petroleum Co.”
According to the article, “This shipment… confirms Otakikpo’s integration into the country’s regulated crude export framework.”
GEIL managing director, Anthony Adegbulugbe, was quoted as saying, “The Otakikpo field and terminal represent a new model for independent oil development in Nigeria, based on local investment and regulatory compliance.”
The Otakikpo development is expected to increase Nigeria’s crude output incrementally and is one of several marginal field projects incentivised under revised fiscal terms in Nigeria’s 2021 Petroleum Industry Act.
