Petrolex
Petrolex Oil & Gas Limited is a Nigerian company and part of Petrolex Group, an African integrated energy conglomerate. The company was founded in February 2007 by Segun Adebutu, a Nigerian entrepreneur. It provides services to the oil and gas industry. It is mainly involved in the refining, storage, distribution and retail of petroleum products in Nigeria and Africa. Petrolex is best known for starting in December 2017, the construction of a 3.6 billion dollar high capacity refinery and Sub-Saharan Africa’s largest tank farm as part of its Mega Oil City project in Ogun State, Nigeria.
Background
Petrolex CEO, Adebutu started an oil and fuel trading business around 2005 but showed interest in “mid-stream infrastructure” for $330 million. His experience in family business, laid the foundation for new ideas in his business career. Over the years, Adebutu was involved in bold projects including oil and gas, solid minerals, construction and maritime. This background inspired Adebutu to replicate similar practices with his new initiative Petrolex Oil & Gas Ltd.In December 2017, Petrolex announced its plan to build a $3.6 billion refinery plant with an output capacity of 250,000 barrels a day. The company is currently working on the “front-end engineering design” and will complete construction in 2021. This initiative is part of a larger Government program to end petroleum products imports in two years.
With support from partners, Petrolex Group has invested over $330 million in the Ibefun tank farm with a 600,000 million litres monthly capacity. The farm was commissioned by the Vice President of Nigeria Yemi Osinbajo, as part of phase one of a 10-year expansion program. This phase would ease the Apapa and Ibafon tanker traffic gridlock, a source of anxiety for stakeholders.