The founder and chairman of Heirs Energies, Tony Elumelu, has hinted that the integrated energy company doesn’t rule out the possibility of building a crude oil refinery as well as venture into petrochemicals production in the future.
The company, a subsidiary of Heirs Holdings, is one of the leading indigenous crude oil producing companies in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.
Elumelu made this known at the Leadership Forum 2025 held on the sideline of the three-day Petroleum Industry Leadership Dialogue convened by Heirs Energies at the Transcorp Hilton Abuja, where he told journalists that building a refinery was part of the company’s ultimate goal.
“You know for us, we will integrate ultimately. But we wanted to start with oil production first. When we have oil, which is the raw material, then to go into fertilizer, into petrochemicals, into refinery is not as difficult.”
“But what is more important is have that raw material, and which I’m happy that we have today. Even though 53,000 barrels per day is not enough, we want to take it to 100,000 barrels. That’s why we have been meeting here for three days, strategizing how we can achieve this, and with these conversations,” he said.
Elumelu also said that the executive orders signed by the Tinubu-led federal government was reshaping the Nigerian oil and gas industry, providing key incentives that have transformed it in the last one year.
Heirs Energies, launched in 2021, is an integrated energy company in Nigeria with interests in power generation and oil and gas.
The firm runs the largest gas-powered power plant in Nigeria—the 972 MW Ughelli power plant in Delta State—with a 60% equity stake in the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company.
Four years ago, the firm signed an 8-year, $1.2 billion transaction to acquire 45% of the oil production OML17, then operated by Shell in partnership with other oil players.
Following that takeover from Shell, the indigenous oil operator has since doubled production at the OML 17, increasing it from 21,000 barrels of oil per day then to over 50,000 barrels today.
If the refinery becomes a reality, it would mark the third oil processing facility to be built in Nigeria by a prominent billionaire.
Aliko Dangote set the stage with his massive oil refinery in Lekki, Lagos — a project that redefined Africa’s energy landscape.
Also, Abdul Samad Rabiu, chairman of BUA Group, is following suit with a 200,000-barrel-per-day crude oil refinery taking shape in Akwa Ibom.
