Sahara Group has appointed Folake Soetan as the founding CEO of Arahas Global Oilfield Services, its oilfield services subsidiary.
The new company will play in the space where multinationals like Baker Hughes, and homegrown firms like Geoplex Drillteq, are operating. It will deploy a range of technical services for upstream and midstream operating firms.
It is telling that Arahas Global Oilfield Services is being announced at a time Sahara has acquired a set of drilling rigs for its upstream operations on two Oil Mining Leases (OMLs), located onshore eastern Niger Delta basin.
Bethel Obioma, Sahara Group’s spokesman, confirms that the management of those rigs will come under the aegis of Arahas Global Oilfield Services.
Mrs. Soetan was, until this appointment, CEO of Ikeja Electric, Nigeria’s largest electricity distribution company by customer base, serving over 1 Million users. She joined the Sahara Group in 2009 and in 2012, she took the position of Vice President, Downstream West Africa, based in Accra, Ghana. She was appointed Chief Commercial Officer at Ikeja Electric in 2015 and became the CEO in 2020.
“Soetan’s appointment comes at a defining moment for Arahas, Sahara Group’s integrated oilfield services business, which is positioned to redefine how oilfield services are delivered across the value chain through a bold emphasis on innovation, operational efficiency, and sustainability”, Sahara said in a statement.. “Her mandate reflects a broader strategic intent to strengthen Arahas as a globally competitive platform rooted in African expertise, engineering excellence, and operational reliability. It is also expected to accelerate Arahas’ ability to deliver efficient solutions that optimise production, extend asset life, and enhance operational certainty across the energy lifecycle”.
