By William Emmanuel Ukpoju
In Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, where asset disruptions, production shutdowns, and operational volatility are common, sustaining uninterrupted production for two decades is no small feat. As Aradel Holdings Plc marks 20 years of continuous hydrocarbon production, the milestone speaks not just to longevity but to discipline, resilience, and a distinctly indigenous approach to energy development.
At a time when energy has remained both an enabler and a constraint to Nigeria’s economic growth, Aradel has emerged as one of the local companies quietly but consistently redefining what operational excellence looks like in a challenging environment. While international oil companies still dominate much of the upstream landscape, Aradel’s journey demonstrates that indigenous firms can sustain production, scale infrastructure, and lead Nigeria’s gas-driven energy transition.
From First Oil to Sustained Production
Aradel’s production story is rooted in its early upstream successes following Nigeria’s marginal field programme. After securing its assets and bringing fields on stream in the mid-2000s, the company entered a phase that would define its identity: continuous production without prolonged shutdowns.
This achievement is particularly significant in the Niger Delta, where operational challenges, ranging from infrastructure vandalism and community unrest to regulatory shifts, have historically disrupted output. For Aradel, maintaining production continuity required strong community relationships, investment in infrastructure, and a long-term operational mindset rather than short-term extraction.
By embedding host communities into its operating framework early, most notably through Nigeria’s first Host Community Development Trust established in 2002, Aradel created a foundation for stability that continues to pay dividends two decades on.
An Indigenous Producer Built for the Long Haul
Established as a wholly Nigerian-owned company, Aradel was never designed as a short-cycle producer. Its founding vision, championed by the late Chief Godwin Aret Adams, former Group Managing Director of the NNPC, was to build an energy company that Nigerians could invest in, trust, and rely on over generations.
That philosophy shaped Aradel’s evolution from its origins as the Midas Drilling Fund in 1992, through its transformation into Niger Delta Exploration and Production Plc, and ultimately into Aradel Holdings Plc in 2023. Across these transitions, production continuity remained the core objective.
Unlike operators focused solely on lifting crude, Aradel invested in supporting infrastructure, processing facilities, gas plants, and refining capacity designed to keep hydrocarbons flowing even during market or logistical disruptions.
Gas as the Anchor of Production Stability
A defining feature of Aradel’s 20-year production record is its early and deliberate pivot to gas. While many producers treated gas as a by-product of oil production, Aradel recognised it as a strategic asset capable of stabilising operations, reducing flaring, and extending field life.
This vision culminated in 2012 with the commissioning of the Ogbele Gas Processing Plant, the first built by an indigenous Nigerian company, with a nameplate capacity of 100 MMscf/d. The facility transformed associated gas from a liability into a revenue-generating resource, ensuring that production could continue even when crude evacuation faced constraints.
The approach earned global recognition in 2015, when Aradel received the World Bank’s Global Gas Flare Reduction Excellence Award, reinforcing its credentials as a responsible, gas-led producer.
Downstream Integration to Protect Production
Production continuity, for Aradel, extended beyond the wellhead. In 2010, the company commissioned its first mini-refinery at Ogbele, providing an alternative route to market and reducing dependence on external infrastructure.
This downstream footprint expanded steadily, with Train II commissioned in 2020, lifting refining capacity to 6,000 barrels per day, and Train III in 2021, raising total installed capacity to 11,000 barrels per day. These investments strengthened Aradel’s ability to monetise production locally, even amid national pipeline or export disruptions.
Together, gas processing and refining infrastructure formed a self-reinforcing ecosystem, enabling Aradel to keep hydrocarbons flowing while many operators struggled with downtime.
Supplying NLNG: A New Chapter in Continuous Output
Aradel’s commitment to production sustainability reached a new milestone in 2022, when it became the only non-NLNG partner supplying gas to Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) through the Shell Nigeria Gas (SNG) and NNPC Gas Marketing Limited (NGML) framework.
The Gas Supply Agreement (GSA) is a defining moment in Aradel’s production journey. It integrates the company directly into Nigeria’s most important gas export value chain, ensuring long-term offtake for its gas and reinforcing production stability.
Commenting on the agreement, Managing Director/CEO Mr Adegbite Falade, described it as central to the company’s long-term production strategy:
“As global energy dynamics shift, natural gas remains pivotal to our strategy, supporting both our growth ambitions and Nigeria’s transition to cleaner, more sustainable energy sources.”
For an indigenous producer, supplying NLNG represents a validation of technical capacity, reliability, and operational discipline built over two decades on stream.
Leadership through Volatility
Sustaining production over 20 years requires more than assets; it demands leadership capable of navigating cycles of price collapse, policy reform, and security challenges. Under Adegbite Falade’s leadership, Aradel has focused on operational efficiency, safety, and risk management.
By 2022, the company recorded over 16 million man-hours with zero Lost Time Incidents (LTI) and achieved ISO 14001:2015 certification, reinforcing its emphasis on safety and environmental stewardship as essential pillars of production continuity.
Continuous Production in a Transitioning World
As the global energy system shifts toward lower-carbon fuels, Aradel’s gas-centric production model positions it advantageously. Gas serves as the bridge between Nigeria’s hydrocarbon present and its clean-energy future, supporting power generation, industrial growth, and emissions reduction.
For Nigeria, where energy access remains uneven, companies that can maintain stable production while reducing environmental impact will be central to economic resilience. Aradel’s two-decade production record demonstrates how indigenous operators can deliver both reliability and responsibility.
The Next Twenty Years
As Aradel Holdings Plc marks 20 years of continuous production, its focus is firmly on the future. The company is exploring ways to extend field life, expand gas infrastructure, and deepen its role in Nigeria’s energy transition, while maintaining the operational discipline that has defined its success so far.
In an industry where many fields have gone on and off stream, Aradel’s uninterrupted production stands as a rare achievement and a quiet statement of capability.
A Benchmark for Indigenous Excellence
Aradel’s story is not just about longevity; it is about consistency. Two decades of continuous production underscore what is possible when indigenous ownership is matched with technical competence, community engagement, and long-term thinking.
As Nigeria charts its path toward energy security and sustainable growth, Aradel Holdings Plc stands as a benchmark for indigenous producers, proving that local companies can stay on stream, stay relevant, and help power the nation’s future.