Top Women in Nigeria's Oil Industry Shaping the Future of Upstream Operations
- Women have made significant strides in Nigeria's oil industry, particularly in upstream sectors like manufacturing and exploration, where they now own blocks and hold key licenses
- Notable figures such as Daisy Danjuma, Folorunsho Alakija, and Cecilia Umoren have transformed the industry through their leadership in major oil fields and operations
- Emerging leaders like Olatimbo Ayinde and Uju Ifejika continue to drive innovation, while Ayodele Dalgety Dean is making waves internationally with her independent oil block licenses in Guyana
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Legit.ng journalist Zainab Iwayemi has 5-year-experience covering the Economy, Technology, and Capital Market.
Women have become more prevalent in the downstream and service sectors, such as cargo trade, depot management, and logistics management, but in the upstream, they are almost unheard of.
Source: Getty Images
A number of women have subtly prevailed in the most challenging aspects of the game: manufacturing and exploration. Middle players are not what they once were.
They own blocks, and their businesses are based on contracts for production sharing and oil mining leases, Billionaire.Africa reported. Their names are listed on licenses for fields that are being tested, drilled, and, in certain cases, already have barrels flowing through them.
Together, they signify a generational shift as women are writing themselves into Nigeria's most prestigious oil tale, where failure is typically just one dry well away, technical risk is high, and capital requirements are punishing.
Daisy Danjuma
Former senator Daisy Danjuma is the Executive Chairman of South Atlantic Petroleum (SAPETRO), one of Nigeria's most prominent figures in the boardroom. Deepwater properties that the corporation owns have not been simple victories. The Akpo and Egina fields are located on its iconic asset, OPL 246 (later changed to OML 130), which was developed in collaboration with oil giants Total and Petrobras.
One of West Africa's most prolific condensate discoveries has been Akpo alone. Since coming on stream in 2009, the field has produced hundreds of thousands of barrels per day at its highest level.
Folorunsho Alakija
The billionaire matriarch of Nigeria's domestic oil industry is Folorunsho Alakija. She and her family co-own Famfa Oil, which owns a portion of the Agbami deepwater field, which was formerly a disputed block but is now regarded as one of Nigeria's greatest oil reservoirs.
Famfa's ownership of OML 127 has had a significant impact. Chevron operates the multibillion-barrel Agbami field, whose output has supported Nigeria's deepwater portfolio for almost 20 years. It is a rarefied corporation to own shares in Agbami.
Cecilia Umoren
Millennium Oil & Gas, founded and led by Cecilia Aqua Umoren, operates in the onshore Niger Delta, where community relations can make or break projects and the geology is complex.
Umoren applies the precision of a lawyer to the oil industry. She has led Millennium through drilling operations, environmental approvals, and seismic surveys. Most significantly, she has contributed to the exploration and appraisal work that has revealed substantial reserves in OML 141, a block connected to Emerald Energy Resources.
Olatimbo Ayinde
Olatimbo Ayinde is a representative of a newer generation of Nigerian upstream executives at Dutchford E&P. With experience in trading, maritime operations, and oil logistics, Ayinde has transformed Dutchford into a business that integrates block ownership and downstream integration.
The Udibe field, which is now undergoing appraisal, is one of the properties offshore Akwa Ibom State to which Dutchford owns the rights. The business has tested, drilled, and is approaching first oil, which is an important turning point in the lifecycle of any block. In addition, Dutchford controls crude lifts, operates tank farms, and manages vessels, which gives it commercial strength that many pure E&Ps lack.
Uju Ifejika
No woman in Nigeria's upstream space has been more visible than Uju Catherine Ifejika, a lawyer by profession, who transformed Brittania-U into a fully functional E&P operator with its flagship Ajapa marginal field. Ifejika is one of the few indigenous operators to deploy and manage such a complex system, overseeing everything from drilling programs to crude marketing. Ajapa is modest by international standards but significant by Nigerian marginal field metrics.
Ayodele Dalgety Dean
Although her narrative is not Nigerian, Ayodele Dalgety Dean deserves to be mentioned alongside Nigeria's oil pioneers. She co-founded Sispro Inc., a business based in Guyana that was successful in obtaining two oil blocks after the 2022 International Licensing Round. She is based in Guyana and one of the few women in the world to hold an independent oil block license.
Additionally, her license is located in the Guyana–Suriname basin, which is arguably the most intriguing oil province of the twenty-first century.
Source: Getty Images
UBA announces N5 billion loan
Legit.ng reported that the Bank of Industry (BOI) has granted United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc a N5 billion loan facility to strengthen key economic sectors and encourage the expansion of sustainable and profitable companies in the country, particularly women-owned micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).
The facility, which is distributed through the Federal Government's MSME Fund, is intended to boost key economic sectors while providing reasonably priced funding to assist companies, with a particular emphasis on women-owned enterprises, green energy, education, and healthcare.
Speaking about the facility, Oliver Alawuba, Group Managing Director/CEO of UBA, emphasised the bank's dedication to promoting economic growth by empowering MSMEs, which he referred to as the "livewire of any developing economy."
Source: Legit.ng
