Nigerian Oil Magnate Tein Jack-rich Puts Belemaoil Up For Sale
- Tein Jack-Rich is looking to cash in on his investment, putting BelemaOil on the market just months after restarting production at OML 55.
- BelemaOil restarted operations at OML 55 in October 2024 after a three-year halt due to oil theft and vandalism.
- In 2024, Jack-Rics company secured a license for a crude export terminal to handle 400,000 barrels daily and generate over 11 billion in revenue.
BelemaOil, one of Nigerias leading indigenous oil exploration and production firms, has been on the market for weeks as founder and oil magnate Tein Jack-Rich looks to cash in on his early investment, according to sources familiar with the matter.
This comes just five months after BelemaOil restarted production at Oil Mining Lease 55 OML 55, following a three-year shutdown caused by rampant oil theft and pipeline vandalism. The block, located about 40 kilometers west of the Bonny oil export terminal, operates as a joint venture between BelemaOil and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation NNPC.
From shutdown to restartBelemaOil acquired a 40 percent stake in OML 55 from Chevron Corp. in 2015, but operations ground to a halt in 2021 when theft along its delivery line to the Bonny terminal made production unsustainable. The suspension dealt a financial blow to the company, forcing it to rethink its strategy.
Production finally resumed in October 2024 with the arrival of the companys first floating oil storage vessel at OML 55. The block holds five oilfields and currently produces about 14,000 barrels of crude per day, along with more than 70 million standard cubic feet of gas daily, according to company figures.
Expansion and crude export plansJack-Rich has long pursued bigger ambitions in Nigerias oil sector. In June 2023, one of his companies, Belema Sweet Export Terminal Limited, secured a government license to develop a crude export terminal .