PROFILE: Meet Bayo Ojulari, ex-Shell chief now leading NNPC

After six years under Mele Kyari‘s leadership, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited will now be steered by Bayo Ojulari, a mechanical engineering graduate.

Ojulari, whose appointment as group chief executive officer (GCEO) took effect on Wednesday, is an indigene of Kwara state, located in the north-central region of Nigeria.

The Ahmadu Bello University graduate joins NNPC with over 30 years of experience in the global oil and gas sector.

Ojulari’s expertise comprises the management of petroleum assets’ acquisition and divestments, exploration, field development, production management, strategic planning, economics, investment evaluation, and commercial negotiations.

Beyond his professional prowess, Ojulari identifies himself as a ‘people’s person,’ with love for music and dance.

ONCE UPON A FIELD ENGINEER

Having worked across Africa, Europe and the Middle East, Ojulari has gained tremendous experience in petroleum process engineering, strategic planning, and field development.

He started his career as a fields and process engineer at Elf Petroleum Nigeria from September 1989 to October 1991 before joining Shell in 1991 as an associate production technologist.

At Shell, Ojulari rose through the ranks to join the company’s integrated studies team at Shell headquarters in the Netherlands from June 1994 to October 1995.

Following that, he was the head of planning, economics, and budgeting at Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) from 1997 to 1999, before serving as the head production technologist and asset leader, Sultanate of Oman, Shell.

From October 2003 to December 2004, Ojulari served as a regional planner for sub-Saharan Africa at Shell headquarters, and in the next five years, he worked in several capacities at SPDC, including as a manager in corporate planning and strategy as well as asset development (onshore and shallow water).

During the same period, Ojulari was also a part of the asset production technologies team.

In January 2010, the oil industry expert became the development director at SPDC, where he managed petroleum engineering aspects of 100 oil and gas fields and led 15 major projects with a $700 million well budget.

Five years later, Ojulari was appointed managing director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO), a position he held until 2021.

In addition, Ojulari has been the board chairman of BAT Advisory and Energy, a company that specialises in upstream and midstream investment advisory, since 2022.

OJULARI HELPED RENAISSANCE ACQUIRE HIS FORMER WORKPLACE

It is, perhaps, interesting that when the pendulum swung, Ojulari acted as a key player in acquiring SPDC, where he worked for over 20 years.

He joined Renaissance African Energy Company in January 2024 as an executive vice-president at a time when the company was in talks to purchase SPDC for over $2 billion.

Renaissance is a consortium formed by ND Western, Aradel Energy, First Exploration & Production (E&P), Waltersmith, and Petrolin.

On March 13, Renaissance Africa Energy Holdings said it had completed the acquisition of Shell’s 100 percent equity holding in the SPDC.

THE WORK BEFORE OJULARI

Ojulari has been tasked, alongside the new board, by President Bola Tinubu to elevate NNPC’s share of crude oil refining output to 200,000 barrels by 2027 and reach 500,000 by 2030.

He is also joining NNPC at a period when the government aims to raise crude oil production to two million barrels daily by 2027 and three million by 2030, alongside a gas production goal of eight billion cubic feet daily by 2027 and 10 billion cubic feet by 2030.

With NNPC involved in several joint ventures in the upstream segment to explore and produce crude oil and natural gas, Ojulari will play a key role in achieving the target.