Chike Onyejekwe, until May 2014 was the Managing Director of SNEPCO, the deep-water exploration subsidiary of Shell in Nigeria; he has taken charge as Chief Executive at AITEO, the Nigerian E&P independent.
In that position, he will lead the re-development of the Oil Mining Lease (OML) 29, a prolific oil and gas asset purchased from Shell/TOTAL and ENI in October 2014 by a consortium led by AITEO. This consortium holds 45% operatorship of the asset, with the state hydrocarbon company NPDC having the remaining 55%. OML 29 holds P1+P2 remaining reserves of 2.2 Billion barrels of oil equivalent (BOE), by Shell estimates. The hydrocarbon fields in the acreage could deliver as much as 160,000BOPD and 300MMscf/d, with focused, aggressive work programme.
Onyejekwe is a geologist by training, and has worked for Shell for 36 years, beginning his career as trainee production geologist after graduating from the University of Nigeria in Nsukka in 1978. He has been General Manager, Onshore and Shelf Exploration, Shell Nigeria; Onshore & Shelf Exploration Manager, Shell Nigeria; Business Development and Exploration Manager, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC); Chief Geologist, SPDC; Asset Development Manager, East, Shell Nigeria; Senior Production Seismologist, Production Development Company of Oman.
He was trained in business at the Ashtridge Business School London, 2001; Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania USA, 2003.