Dr. Ferdinand is the Founder and the current MD/CEO of UDIPPCO (i.e. UD Integrated Petroleum Production Company of Nigeria Limited), an independent E & P operating company based in Lagos which he is using to offer services to petroleum and energy asset owners. He has had over 40 years of hands-on experiences as a petroleum and energy industries’ practitioner while working for Shell and Sterling Group in petroleum and energy development projects, planning and economics across 4 continents (Africa, Asia (Middle East), Europe and America).
Ferdinand worked for Shell in Nigeria, the Sultanate of Oman and Holland from 1981 to 2010, starting as an exploration geologist/seismologist and rose to become the Exploration Team Leader, Portfolio Manager and the Gas Exploration Manager for Shell Companies in Nigeria (SCIN). He branched out of Exploration into Shell’s Planning and Economics as Head of Planning/Economics for Shell’s Western Division. From there he moved on to become Shell’s Regional General Manager for Planning, Economics and Strategy for all Shell companies in Sub-Sahara Africa before he was appointed into the board of Shell EP Africa (SEPA) in January 2006 as the Director and member of board of directors responsible for regional planning and economics in SEPA. He left Shell to join Sterling Group in March 2010 as the Group’s Vice President and COO (Chief Operating Officer).
While in Sterling Group (SEEPCO) from year 2010 to 2020, Ferdinand led the Group’s exploration and development teams to explore, develop and start oil and gas production in OML 143 (from Okwuibome, Anieze, Ameshi and Enyi Oil Fields) and OML 146 (from Agu Oil Field), growing the Group’s oil production from zero in 2010 to 55 Mb/d in 2018, all of which were exported through the crude oil barging system he set up for SEEPCO. He also built-up Sterling Group’s operated oil block’s portfolio from 2 blocks in 2010 to 7 blocks in 2019. In 2018, he became the Major Projects Manager for SEEPCO’s two major projects, a 1.5 Tcf Gas development project in Kwale and NPDC-SEEPCO’s joint project for OML 13 Re-entry, a 3.3 billion US $ Project, and he did this job until July 2020 when he retired from Sterling Group. On retiring from Sterling Group, he resumed in UDIPPCO as the MD/CEO and currently working to replicate through UDIPPCO the huge successes he achieved for Sterling Group.
Ferdinand has BSc in Geology from University of Benin, Nigeria; PhD in Petroleum Seismology from Pacific Western University, California, USA and Diploma in Fundamentals of LNG and Gas Value Chain studies from IBC Academy in London, UK. He is calm, unassuming, reliable, trust worthy and vastly experienced as Sterling Group found out and gave him positions of high responsibility in their E & P businesses.