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A $64 million facility from the African Export Import Bank is helping Nigerian entrepreneur Nzan Ogbe push his energy company beyond commodity trading and into gas infrastructure, a corner of the sector investors increasingly view as steadier and more predictable.
Afreximbank said Friday that it provided an acquisition finance facility to Levene Energy Development Ltd. The bank said the money supports Levene’s equity commitment to Bluecore Gas Infraco Ltd, a vehicle pursuing an acquisition linked to a 30% equity stake in Axxela Ltd, which Afreximbank described as one of West Africa’s leading gas and power infrastructure companies.
The move gives Levene what the bank called direct entry into Nigeria’s regulated midstream and downstream gas sectors, a shift away from a core business built on trading oil and refined petroleum products. Levene’s goal is to become a fully integrated energy company with recurring revenue tied to infrastructure assets, the statement said.
Ogbe, Levene’s founder and chief executive, has spent much of his working life in businesses where relationships and timing matter as much as balance sheets. On the company’s website, he is described as a serial entrepreneur with more than 30 years of experience across commercial trading, real estate, telecommunications and oil and gas. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Communication Arts and has attended leadership and management programs, according to Levene.
His route into energy came later than some of Nigeria’s better known oil traders. In a 2023 interview with BusinessDay, Ogbe said he founded Levene Energy in 2016 after years in other ventures, then built the company around trading crude oil out of Nigeria and importing refined products and derivatives into the country.
Levene now markets itself as an African born global energy company operating across trading, upstream services, engineering and clean energy development. Afreximbank said its relationship with Levene dates to 2019, beginning with trade finance facilities that later expanded as the company grew.
Ogbe has also leaned into the renewable pitch at a time when many banks have tightened financing for new oil and gas projects. In December 2025, Nigeria’s Punch newspaper reported that Ogbe received a sustainability award tied to Levene’s work on a fully automated solar panel manufacturing facility, which the report said involved investment of more than $20 million. The same report said the company had begun exporting solar panels to Ghana and elsewhere in West Africa.
Afreximbank framed the Axxela linked transaction as part of a broader energy transition push, arguing that expanding gas infrastructure can improve energy access while displacing dirtier fuels. In its statement, the bank said backing Levene’s move into gas supports cleaner energy sources and regional energy security.
As Nigeria’s gas value chain opens up, deals like this can also reshape who owns and controls critical infrastructure. Ogbe has positioned Levene as a local player aiming to move from trading margins to long lived assets, betting that pipelines, distribution networks and gas to power projects will outlast the next cycle in oil prices.
