Tony Elumelu's Heirs Energies wins global award for landmark $750 million oil financing deal

Tony Elumelu's Heirs Energies Limited has won Best Oil & Gas Deal of the Year at the EMEA Finance Project Finance Awards 2026 for a $750 million dual-tranche financing that ranks among the largest capital raises ever executed by an indigenous African energy company.

The award was presented June 3 in London, recognizing the Senior Secured Reserve-Based Lending facility the Nigerian energy producer structured with the African Export-Import Bank, known as Afreximbank. The deal was executed to accelerate field development, optimize production at OML 17 and position the company for sustained long-term growth.

Heirs Energies Chief Executive Osa Igiehon said the recognition validates what African institutions can achieve when properly backed.

"This recognition reflects the confidence that African and international financial institutions continue to place in Heirs Energies, our strategy, and our long-term vision," Igiehon said. "The transaction demonstrates that indigenous African energy companies can successfully structure and execute world-class financing solutions that support investment, growth, and value creation."

The financing marked a turning point in how Heirs Energies funds its operations, shifting the company's capital structure away from acquisition-led financing toward one aligned with the long-term development profile of its reserves. It also placed Afreximbank at the center of what the multilateral lender called a model transaction for Africa-focused energy finance.

"This recognition underscores the importance of well-structured, Africa-focused financing in supporting indigenous energy companies with strong governance, high-quality assets and clear long-term growth plans," said Haytham ElMaayergi, Afreximbank's Executive Vice President for its Global Trade Bank. "Afreximbank was proud to support this landmark transaction, which demonstrates how African financial institutions can help mobilise capital for strategic businesses that advance energy security, production capacity and sustainable value creation across the continent."

Samuel Nwanze, who serves as both Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer at Heirs Energies, said the award affirmed the underlying strength of the deal structure itself.

"The facility was designed to support our long-term growth strategy, enabling continued investment in field development, production optimisation, and sustainable value creation," Nwanze said.

The EMEA Finance Project Finance Awards cover outstanding transactions across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, with a focus on excellence and innovation in project and structured finance. Winning in the oil and gas category against a field that spans three regions underscores the scale of what Heirs Energies pulled off.

Heirs Energies assumed operatorship of OML 17 in 2021, acquiring the onshore Nigerian oil block from Shell in a transaction that Elumelu framed as a test of what African capital could accomplish in the continent's own resources sector. Since then, the company has more than doubled oil production to over 50,000 barrels per day and tripled gas output to over 135 million standard cubic feet per day. It now accounts for roughly 5 percent of Nigeria's total oil production and an equivalent share of domestic gas supply.

The scale of that operational turnaround helped make the $750 million financing possible. Lenders evaluating a reserve-based lending facility look closely at production profiles, reserve estimates and the operator's track record of meeting targets. Heirs Energies had built enough of a record on all three fronts to anchor a deal of this size through a pan-African multilateral rather than a traditional Western banking syndicate.

That choice of financing partner was itself part of the story. Afreximbank, which closed 2025 with total assets and contingencies exceeding $48.5 billion, has been positioning itself as a lead financier for large African corporate transactions. The Heirs Energies deal is among the highest-profile mandates the bank has executed in the energy sector, and the EMEA Finance recognition puts that work on the international map.

Elumelu, who chairs Heirs Energies alongside his role as founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation and chairman of United Bank for Africa, has argued consistently that African energy security cannot be built on foreign capital alone. The $750 million deal, now globally recognized, gives that argument its most concrete proof point yet.