Oando Energy Resources, a subsidiary of Oando Plc, has announced plans to generate electricity from abandoned oil wells through a pilot geothermal-style power project, part of a wider push to expand Nigeria’s clean energy capacity and advance the country’s gas-to-power agenda.
According to a statement, the company disclosed the plan when its management paid a courtesy visit to the Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, with talks centring on Oando’s role in the power sector and the broader potential of domestic gas.
The Managing Director of Oando Energy Resources, Dr Ainojie Irune, said the pilot scheme would convert abandoned oil wells across the Oando Joint Venture into a source of geothermal-style electricity, describing it as one of the innovative, homegrown solutions needed to reshape Nigeria’s energy sector and widen access to power.
He said the project was part of a clean energy strategy pursued through Oando Clean Energy, set up five years ago to study how gas, solar, wind and hydro resources could be combined to deliver reliable and affordable electricity across Africa.
Irune noted that Oando’s operations already underpin power generation through the 480-megawatt Okpai Independent Power Plant, which feeds directly into the national grid. He said the plant supplies electricity to about 50 million Nigerians and accounts for roughly 15 per cent of the nation’s power supply.
He added that the company’s investment portfolio was tilting increasingly towards gas, which he called critical to Nigeria’s economic recovery and industrial growth. “Domestic capacity is not only an imperative now, but it is also the only way we get out of an economic crisis,” Irune said, adding that building a productive, industrialised economy would demand sustained investment in basic infrastructure and power.
Responding, Tegbe welcomed Oando’s continued engagement with the ministry and restated the Federal Government’s resolve to strengthen gas-to-power delivery as a key plank of the industrialisation agenda. “We can talk about carbon credits, but in reality, it’s about the resources you have. You have to use them. That’s your advantage. Get it done in the cheapest, most efficient way possible. For me, it’s hydro, gas, and solar,” the minister said.
He also accepted the company’s offer of technical and advisory support, stressing that cooperation between government and the private sector would be essential to sustainable reform.
The statement said both sides agreed to deepen collaboration in the weeks ahead, with Irune stressing that transforming Nigeria’s energy landscape would require collective effort.
Source: Punch.
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