For massively investing in the mining and hydrocarbons sector across the continent, which earned him the sobriquet of pan-African mining and hydrocarbons magnate, and defying all odds to build a net worth estimated at $7 billion, Benedict Peters, Founder and CEO of Aiteo/Bravura is Business Person of the Year 2024
Benedict Peters is one of Nigeria’s well-known private-sector players. A consummate businessman and boardroom guru who believes in working hard and smart, he is arguably one of the best-known business names in Nigeria and, indeed, in Africa.
Peters has earned a mark as a shrewd business mogul whose diversified portfolio includes oil and mining companies in Nigeria, Ghana, Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Tanzania, Mozambique, Cote d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau, Namibia, Libya, South Africa, and Switzerland.
Though operating a low-profile attitude, Peters was one of the leading Indigenous oil and gas sector players. He entered the industry in the early 1990s and joined Ocean and Oil Limited (now Oando) and later MRS Oil Nigeria Plc, where he served as managing director.
A quintessential entrepreneur, Peters founded Sigmund Cummunecci in 1999, which later evolved into Aiteo, a global supplier of refined oil and gas products, and eventually built Aiteo into Africa’s leading independent indigenous oil producer.
Peters ventured into the oil and gas sector as an entrepreneur in 1999 and initially traded mainly in the downstream sector. However, Aiteo emerged as Nigeria’s highest-producing indigenous oil exploration and production company in a short period.
In 2015, Peters consolidated Aiteo’s asset portfolio with a $3 billion acquisition of sub-Saharan Africa’s largest onshore block (OML 29). Within a year of the acquisition, Aiteo optimised the asset’s yield from 17,000 barrels of oil per day to almost 70,000 bpd.
As the largest Indigenous energy provider, Aiteo peaks production at around 100,000 bpd, doubling its initial asset value to $6 billion within three years. The company plans to invest another $4.3 billion in acquiring additional offshore assets, with a projected total output of 250,000 bpd in the short to medium term.
Aiteo Group had investments in mining, agriculture, infrastructure development, electricity generation and distribution, with a fast-growing retail distribution network and focus on serving the needs of communities across the continent by leveraging a unique combination of a strategic asset base, technology, innovation, and some of the best technical and business minds across the industries it operates in.
The group has been expanding rapidly to extend its operations to different countries across Africa and beyond. It has an emerging international presence in the DRC, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Aiteo moved from being a downstream start-up to a leading energy conglomerate with investments in hydrocarbon exploration and production. It boasts comprehensive energy capabilities and services, from deep water exploration through electric power generation to retail delivery of refined petroleum products.
The company undertakes bulk petroleum products storage, oilfield services, electricity generation and distribution, LPG bulk storage, and marketing and distribution of refined petroleum products, including a rapidly growing retail distribution network.
Aiteo Group has a power-generating subsidiary – Aiteo Power Generation Company Ltd, which won the bid for Alaoji Power Generation Company. This has enabled further integration of operations towards building a power generation hub in the Niger Delta. Its power generation projects are designed to be fed from gas resources from oil wells.
Peters is developing a master plan to use gas, oil, and coal to generate electricity and market it to Nigeria and other West African countries. He hopes the projects will help bring electricity to an estimated 7.6 million people. His energy solution master plan focuses on Africa and hopes to create access to the power grid on the continent.
His target is to see that the vast gas reserves in Africa are fully developed to electrical energy readily available to African people wherever they may be in the continent.
Exploiting natural gas’s potential is a major component of Peters’ energy portfolio as he embarks on the next phase of exploration and development activities.
His company is developing all aspects of the midstream and downstream natural gas value chain in alliance with internationally reputed gas solution providers.
This involves massive investments in gas gathering and processing facilities, LPG production, storage and distribution. It also includes pipeline infrastructural network development, NGL processing, transportation and logistics
Peters’ Aiteo Group recorded another remarkable milestone via its partnership with the NNPC to launch a new grade of crude called Nemb; through this joint venture, the group, widely acknowledged as Africa’s largest oil producer, ramps up its oil output.
A joint venture between state-owned NNPC and oil firm Aiteo Eastern E&P Co. Ltd will manage and market the Nembe crude stream, the first crude marketing project solely run by Nigerian entities.
Aiteo, Africa’s largest Indigenous oil producer, already plays a significant role in the continent’s oil industry, producing nearly 100,000 barrels daily and contributing over 5 percent to Nigeria’s daily oil output.
Peters secured a significant stake in Mozambique’s Mazenga gas block, the largest onshore gas reserve in Sub-Saharan Africa. The acquisition was finalised following a series of farm-in agreements with Mozambique’s national oil company, Empresa Nacional de Hydrocarbon (ENH), positioning Aiteo as the block’s operator.
The Mazenga assets, nestled in Mozambique’s rich sedimentary basin, span approximately 23,000 square kilometres. They are estimated to contain a substantial gas reserve of 19 trillion cubic feet, highlighting the block’s significant potential.
Aiteo has swiftly launched an intensive development programme. This includes aeromagnetic and gravitational geological studies, thorough field inspections, and the reinterpretation and processing of existing data.
Peters eventually diversified his business and ventured into the mining sector using Bravura Holdings. With Bravura, he has painted bold strokes across Africa’s untapped canvas, investing in uranium, platinum, lithium, silver, copper, and gold.
With mining concessions spread across African countries, he spearheads a billion-dollar mining empire that underscores his unwavering commitment to Africa’s economic development.
Bravura Holdings operates as a vertically integrated company with a robust portfolio spanning gold, copper, lithium, and steel assets in Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Nigeria, Namibia, and South Africa. Its strategic investments in Zimbabwe highlight Bravura’s dedication to transforming the African mining landscape.
In recognition of his daring exploits in the oil and gas sector, Peters has earned various awards, including being named ‘Africa’s Oil and Gas Leader of the Year’ at Forbes’ Best of Africa Gala on 27 September 2018, Marquee Award for Global Business Excellence at the Africa-US Leadership Awards in 2014, LEADERSHIP CEO of the Year 2014, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Legacy Awards in the Economic Empowerment category in 2015. He was listed among the ‘50 Most Influential Nigerians in 2017’ by BusinessDay and was recognised as the ‘Oil and Gas Man of the Year’ in 2018 by the Guardian.
