Meeting billionaire energy entrepreneur Femi Otedola

Energy and Finance Entrepreneur Femi Otedola (left) with Energy Analyst Gaurav Sharma in London, UK

Late last month, the Oilholic had the pleasure of a very special meeting in London with an extraordinary energy and finance entrepreneur - none other than Nigerian billionaire and noted philanthropist Femi Otedola - who made his fortune with Forte Oil, a company he subsequently sold for a handsome profit. 

These days Otedola is the Chairman and majority owner of Geregu Power, a power generation company in Nigeria, and has sizeable stakes in Zenith Bank and FBN Holdings. 

The serial entrepreneur sat down for a meeting with yours truly late last month to discuss his life's journey, investment philosophy and his first book - Making it big: Lessons from a life in Business (currently trending on Amazon's Best Sellers list in business books category). 

Read the Oilholic's latest Forbes exclusive for more on Otedola's entrepreneurship, philanthropy, inspiring journey, and why he felt it was the right time to publish his first book. 

In the book, the self-made billionaire recounts that he always felt his true calling was in "business" and not academia, and that he started dreaming about it before he was even 10 years old. It also lays bare the ups and downs he faced, the challenges he met and the opportunities he took advantage of to get to where he is today. 

But what really stood was his passion for researching and conviction investing. "To this day, I follow the courage of my convictions and research when going for an asset acquisition." 

"I tend not to rely on an army of advisers. It may not be everyone's thing, but it is mine. I cannot say that there haven't been challenges in such an approach. Of course, there have been - but you learn from them to make your beliefs and investment approach stronger," he added. 

Overall, a most remarkable encounter with a great industry captain. That's all for now folks. More musings to follow soon. Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'! 

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To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2025. Photo: Energy analyst Gaurav Sharma (right) with billionaire energy and finance entrepreneur Femi Otedola in London, UK © Office of Femi Otedola, August 2025.

Is $50 an optimum crude price for GCC countries?

Before the Oilholic begins the journey back to London, there is the little matter of gauging the ‘crude’ opinion of known industry contacts seated comfortably in the Disneyland for adults, sorry Dubai!

Quite like the consensus among delegates at the recently concluded Gulf Intelligence Energy Market Forum, most think the United Arab Emirates and its fellow Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members would indeed be comfortable at $50 per barrel. To quote one physical trader, a $50+ price level is the modest middle ground that both Gulf producers and US shale players can work with.

The regional broadsheets – Khaleej Times, Gulf News and The National – as well as several internet forums seem to be leading their respective crude narrative this morning with the Iraqi minister’s quip at EMF2017. For OPEC, which quite frankly appears to have no exit strategy for its current round of cuts totalling 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd), there could a renewed impetus on deepening the cuts. 

The cartel’s compliance committee meets on Friday with the exempt duo of Nigeria and Libya – whose production has been steadily rising – in sharp focus. Production for both is up; in Libya’s case the data is erratic and in Nigeria’s case often over-reported.

Analysts from JBC energy say the average revision was around 100,000 bpd for the months from January to July 2017 for Nigeria. “We would expect a similar revision for August and hence expect the final crude figure to come in at 1.65 million bpd,” they add.

At 1.65 million bpd, perhaps the time is indeed right for Nigeria to be invited to cut on 30 November. But who knows how this will go in the complicated world of OPEC shenanigans. 

In theory the cartel could cut further and fan the so-called ongoing ‘rally’ more – but it should not for one moment assume that US producers would not benefit. More American oil is in any case imminent; more so should OPEC introduce even deeper cuts on paper. If anything, the move would accelerate the US’ march to 10 million bpd much sooner in 2018 than later. Let’s see where it all goes.

Just one final matter before, the Oilholic takes your leave – remember the ADNOC fuel distribution unit IPO back in July, that sent equity analysts pulses racing? Well, this blogger thought there would be more excitement in the UAE about it than one has encountered over the past few days.

While there is reasonable amount of chatter about fast-tracking it and other IPOs before Saudi Aramco’s so-called mother of all IPOs, there is very little concrete information on the timeline and the road ahead. That’s kinda disappointing but that’s all for the moment from the UAE folks as its time for the ride home to London. Keep reading, keep it crude!

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To email: gaurav.sharma@oilholicssynonymous.com