Abuja/Lagos — Amaranta Oil & Gas Development Company Limited has appointed His Imperial Majesty Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, the 51st Ooni of Ife, as Chairman of its Board of Directors.
The appointment comes as Oil Mining Lease (OML) 42 enters a new phase of development and gains greater strategic importance in Nigeria’s energy landscape.
The move positions one of Nigeria’s most prominent traditional rulers and business figures at the helm of a company that has driven a significant turnaround in production from the western Niger Delta asset. OML 42 is held in a joint venture by Neconde Energy Limited and NNPC Exploration and Production Limited.
Under a Funding and Technical Services Agreement (FTSA) with the joint-venture partners, Amaranta has provided financing and technical expertise for the asset’s development over a 15-year horizon. In the three years since the agreement became operational, crude output from OML 42 has roughly tripled to approximately 55,000 barrels of oil per day, according to company figures. That volume now represents about 5 percent of Nigeria’s total crude production.
Some reports place current output nearer 40,000 barrels per day. The company is targeting a near-term increase to 100,000 barrels per day, while also advancing plans to commercialise the asset’s substantial natural gas resources.
OML 42, located onshore in the West Delta and covering about 814 square kilometres, has been producing since 1969. Output peaked at approximately 250,000 barrels per day in the mid-1970s before communal disturbances and security challenges led to a prolonged shutdown roughly two decades ago. The asset was previously operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria and its joint-venture partners before interests were transferred to indigenous players.
Amaranta serves as the field management entity under the FTSA, focusing on improving production, maximising recovery, developing gas resources and enhancing operational efficiency. A recent milestone was the deployment of the Pathfinder 500 drilling rig—its first use since acquisition about eight years ago—which completed workover operations on two producing wells without reported health, safety or environmental incidents.
The company estimates OML 42 holds approximately 600 million stock tank barrels of 2P crude reserves and 4.3 trillion cubic feet of gas. Successful development of these resources could contribute meaningfully to Nigeria’s crude exports and its ambitions for domestic and export-oriented gas utilisation.
Oba Ogunwusi ascended the throne of Ile-Ife in 2015. Before his enthronement, he built a career in real estate development, engineering, procurement and construction, and infrastructure projects. He has since held board and advisory roles across banking, real estate and industrial holdings. His appointment extends that business profile into the upstream oil and gas sector at a time when the Nigerian government is prioritising increased crude production, investment attraction and deeper indigenous participation in the petroleum industry.
Company sources describe the chairmanship as a strategic step to strengthen governance and stakeholder engagement as Amaranta advances into a more capital-intensive phase of OML 42’s development. The Ooni is expected to provide strategic leadership to the board while leveraging his institutional stature and experience in business and community relations.
The appointment underscores the growing role of indigenous companies and alternative financing models in Nigeria’s upstream sector following years of underinvestment, international oil company divestments, and challenges including pipeline vandalism and crude theft. Funding and technical services agreements have emerged as one mechanism to unlock value from mature or previously underperforming assets without sole reliance on traditional project finance or major international operators.
Amaranta has positioned its model—combining capital deployment with hands-on technical services and asset management—as a potential template for other underperforming Nigerian upstream assets. For the joint-venture partners and the broader industry, the continued success of OML 42 is seen as contributing to national energy security, government revenue, local employment and contracting opportunities.
The company has not disclosed a specific timeline for reaching the 100,000-barrel-per-day target, though the production growth achieved over the past three years is cited as evidence that the goal is achievable on a multi-year horizon. Gas commercialisation is expected to require additional midstream infrastructure and offtake arrangements and remains a longer-term priority alongside continued crude growth.
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