Nigerian oil and gas billionaire Benedict Peters
Benedict Peters may not be the first name that comes to mind when you talk of the richest people in Nigeria. But, as a key player in the oil, gas, and power industry in Nigeria and Africa, Peters may well be one silent billionaire that is rarely in the news.
Ranked by Ventures Africa as the 17th richest person in
Africa, Benedict Peters is an innovative businessman considered to be one of
the pioneers in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria. The Guardian Newspaper,
Nigeria in June 2018, named him “Oil and Gas CEO of the Year.” Later the same
year, Forbes honoured him with the ‘Africa’s Oil and Gas Leader of the Year’
award in September 2018.
A native of Onicha-Olona in Delta State, Benedict Peters was
born in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State in 1966. He had his early education in eastern
Nigeria and finished his secondary school education at Federal Government
College Enugu. He got admission into the University of Benin, Edo State and
bagged a first degree in Geography and Town Planning.
Fresh from school, he did several jobs across banking,
commodity trading before entering the Nigerian oil and gas industry in the
early 1990s. He joined Ocean and Oil Limited (now Oando) where he worked
closely with the founders. From there, he moved to a major downstream petroleum
company – MRS Oil Nigeria Plc as Group Executive Director, and later as
Managing Director. In this position, he had to oversee all the Chevron/Texaco
petrol stations owned by MRS Oil in West Africa.
By the end of the 20th century, Peters decided that he had
gained sufficient experience to try his hands on entrepreneurship. He established Sigmund Cummunecci in 1999 to
focus on tank farms and all aspects of the downstream sector.
Barely ten years after, Peters established Aiteo Eastern
Exploration and Production Company Limited as a succeeding entity to Sigmund
Communecci. The company was meant to focus on providing responsible energy
extraction and production, helping fuel economic growth, among other
activities. The company is now known as Aiteo group, a global supplier of
refined oil and gas products. Aiteo also heads resources exploration projects.
The company now owns one of the largest petroleum tank farms
in Nigeria with excess facilities of over 250 million litres on a landmass of
over 100,000 square meters including the Abonnema Storage Terminal. Aiteo group
also has offices in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Warri, London, and Geneva with
headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria.
Under Peters’ guidance, the group acquired a controlling
stake in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 29 (containing 11 oil and gas fields) and the
Nembe Creek Trunk Line (NCTL) in the Eastern Niger Delta from Royal Dutch Shell
Plc.
Aiteo Group is an Official Optimum Partner of the Nigerian
Football Federation and signed a five-year partnership agreement worth about
N2.9 billion with the NFF in 2017. The company also partnered with the
Confederation of African Football (CAF) to fund the annual CAF Awards in 2018.
Benedict Peters is devoted to the growth of the company and
continues to design strategic models and international joint ventures. He has
also started diversifying the business, with the start of Aiteo Power. Peters
heads the Aiteo Consortium and EMA Consortium which won separate bids to
acquire three power generating companies.
Aiteo Group was named “Company of The Year” at the New
Telegraph Awards in 2017, as well as the Nigeria Oil and Gas Conference Awards
in July 2018.
Benedict Peters is the founder and chairman of Joseph Agro
Foundation, a foundation with a focus on the improvement of the lives of the
farmers in rural areas. Through this foundation, he has executed several
philanthropic projects and initiatives, especially in rural areas.
He serves as the Chairman of the Otuoke University Council.
Peters is also the owner of Bravura Holdings Ltd., a company
that has secured platinum concessions in Zimbabwe in line with the government’s
plans to revamp the economy. Zimbabwe has the world’s third-largest platinum
group metal reserves, and even though investors in the past have been wary of
inconsistent mining laws, Peters refuses to be deterred.
The company may also be the means through which Peters wants
to explore mining of cobalt in the Democratic Republic of Congo, copper in
Zambia, gold in Ghana and iron ore in Guinea, as hinted by the Manager, Lionel
Mhlanga.
Much as Peters stays away from the news, his achievements
continue to receive acclaim on various stages.
Peters was one of the four recipients of the Marquee Award
for Global Business Excellence at the Africa-US Leadership Awards dinner in
Washington DC in August 2014. At an
event in Willard Hotel, Washington DC, he also received the Dr Martin Luther
King Jr. Legacy Awards in the “Economic Empowerment” category, in January 2015.
Peters was on the BusinessDay Newspaper’s list of 50 Most
Influential Nigerians in 2017, and was BuinessDay’s Man of the year in 2019.
Rich as he is, there is no means to determine Peters’ net worth. Rough
estimates across several platforms say he is worth at least a couple of billion
dollars, hence his ranking by Ventures
Africa as the 17th richest man in Africa.
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