LADOL, the Lagos free-zone and offshore logistics company founded by Nigerian billionaire Oladipo “Ladi” Jadesimi, has signed a joint development agreement with Liberia’s National Oil Company in London on October 3, agreeing to help build the country’s first major shore base for offshore oil drilling support in Buchanan, a port city in Grand Bassa County. A shore base is the onshore facility that keeps offshore drilling crews supplied — handling equipment, transport, logistics and technical services from land.
The deal is partly a correction. During Liberia’s last drilling campaign, services like waste disposal, logistics and technical support were sourced from Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Senegal instead of locally, meaning much of the money and the jobs left the country. The state oil company’s president, Fabian Lai, says the goal this time is to keep the jobs, contracts and training inside Liberia as the government prepares for new drilling under petroleum agreements already signed and concessions still to be awarded.
LADOL will act as lead technical partner, funding and running a feasibility study — set to begin within 45 days and run six months — covering land and marine access, utilities, project economics, and groundwork for an environmental and social impact assessment. The agreement makes LADOL and the state oil company exclusive developer and operator if the project proceeds, though neither side has disclosed cost estimates, a construction timeline, or expected job numbers yet.
This would be LADOL’s first attempt to replicate its Lagos model abroad. That original site, designated a free zone in 2006, became known for hosting the integration of TotalEnergies’ giant Egina production vessel — built through a roughly $300 million joint venture with Samsung Heavy Industries that later collapsed into a bitter, multi-year legal dispute before both sides said it was fully resolved. Jadesimi, an Oxford-trained lawyer and founding partner of Arthur Andersen Nigeria, runs LADOL as a family business: daughter Amy Jadesimi is managing director and CEO and attended the London signing, while son Jide Jadesimi oversees business development.
