Bayo Ojulari: Former Shell Executive Takes Helm at Nigeria’s NNPC

President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday dismissed the board of the state-owned oil firm, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), including its Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), Mele Kyari, and board chairperson, Pius Akinyelure.

In their place, the president appointed Bayo Bashir Ojulari as the new GCEO of the NNPC.

Mr. Ojulari is an energy expert who describes himself as “a business leader with a proven track record in the global energy sector.”

According to his LinkedIn profile, he worked at global oil giant Shell for over 24 years, rising to become the Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) in November 2015, a position he held until July 2021.

His profile indicates that he first joined Shell in November 1991 as an Associate Production Technologist at Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) after leaving Elf Petroleum Nigeria, where he worked as a Field and Process Engineer from September 1989 to October 1991.

Mr. Ojulari graduated from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, with a degree in Mechanical Engineering between 1985 and 1989.

After joining Shell in 1991, he progressed to become a member of the Integrated Studies Team at Shell’s headquarters in the Netherlands in June 1994, a position he held until October 1995. Between April 1997 and November 1999, he served as the Head of Planning, Economics, and Budgeting at SPDC Nigeria, before becoming the Asset Leader and Head Production Technologist at Shell in Oman from December 1999 to September 2003.

He was later appointed Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Planner at Shell headquarters in October 2003, holding the position until December 2004. From January 2005 to October 2008, he served as Manager, Corporate Planning and Strategy at SPDC Nigeria, while also briefly holding the role of Asset Production Technologist from November 2006 to March 2007.

His career at Shell continued in Nigeria, where he became Manager, Asset Development (Onshore and Shallow Water) at SPDC Nigeria from October 2008 to October 2010. Between January 2010 and October 2015, he served as Development Director at SPDC Nigeria before being appointed Managing Director of SNEPCo, a role he held from November 2015 to July 2021.

Following his departure from Shell, he founded BAT Advisory and Energy Company Nigeria Ltd in September 2021 and served as its board chairman. The company provided consultancy services to firms in the oil and gas/energy sector.

In January 2024, he was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Renaissance Africa Energy Company, a position he held until his recent appointment as NNPC chief. He had announced his role at Renaissance Africa on LinkedIn just a week ago, stating, “It’s been a while since I started my role at Renaissance Africa Energy Company as an Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, but I wanted to share this update with everyone.”

Mr. Ojulari joined Renaissance at a critical time, as the company was finalizing its acquisition of a Shell asset in Nigeria. “Renaissance now controls SPDC’s 30% stake in the SPDC JV, an unincorporated joint venture with the government-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (55%), Total Exploration and Production Nigeria Ltd (10%), and Agip Energy and Natural Resources (Nigeria) Limited (5%),” Shell announced.

Now at the helm of NNPC, Nigeria’s main oil and gas firm, Mr. Ojulari steps into a role fraught with long-standing allegations of corruption and inefficiency. His leadership comes at a pivotal time, as Shell has announced plans to divest from some of its Nigerian operations, particularly onshore assets in the oil-rich Niger Delta.

The new NNPC chief is expected to leverage his vast industry experience to reform the company. “President Tinubu also handed out an immediate action plan to the new board: to conduct a strategic portfolio review of NNPC-operated and Joint Venture assets to ensure alignment with value maximization objectives,” presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga stated in a Wednesday announcement of the new appointments.