Bayo Bashir Ojulari, the newly appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), is a highly experienced Nigerian engineer specializing in petroleum, process, and production engineering.
Before his appointment, he served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Renaissance Africa Energy Company. Under his leadership, Renaissance spearheaded a consortium of indigenous energy firms in the landmark $2.4 billion acquisition of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC).
Ojulari began his career as the first Nigerian process engineer at Elf Aquitaine before joining Shell Petroleum Development Company in 1991. A native of Kwara State, he later became the Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo), a role he held from 2015 to 2021.
An alumnus of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he studied Mechanical Engineering (1985–1989), Ojulari is also a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE Nigeria Council) from 1998 to 1999.
With a career spanning managerial roles across Europe and the Middle East, Ojulari has expertise in petroleum engineering, process engineering, production engineering, and health and safety. In November 2015, he was appointed Managing Director of SNEPCo and General Manager, Deepwater.
He also served on the board of SPDC, overseeing onshore and offshore petroleum engineering, technical integration of development, well engineering, and project engineering. Beyond Nigeria, he has worked in various capacities globally, including as a petroleum process and production engineer, strategic planner, field developer, and asset manager.
