Section 1: Personal Introduction and Career Foundation
1. Can you introduce yourself and your professional background in petroleum engineering, drilling operations, and oil & gas business development?
Response: I am Victor Onyechi Nnanyelu, a Chemical Engineer with over two decades of experience transforming oil and gas operations across Africa. Currently serving as Joint Venture Managing Director at Schlumberger’s MI Nigeria entity and Special Projects Manager, overseeing operations in eight West African nations, I have built my career on the principle that technical excellence and business acumen must work hand in hand. I have worked in various oil field environments, ranging from land to shallow offshore, deep water, and ultra-deep offshore operations, as a field engineer, fluid design engineer,and in project management roles. Working in the oil field has taken me to very challenging markets within sub-Saharan Africa, including high-volume markets for mature oil fields and very remote operations for exploration & appraisal wells.Managing business from new ventures, project start-up, joint ventures, and local integration of acquired companies. My journey began as a field engineer in 2001, working on drilling rigs in challenging environments, and has evolved to leading multimillion-dollar operations across Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Tanzania, Kenya, and 13 other African countries. I hold a B.Sc. in Biochemistry and PGD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Benin, complemented by extensive technical training from Houston to Dubai. My expertise spans drilling & completions fluids engineering, fluid design & optimization,Production chemicals, solids control & waste management, HPHT fluid well management, and the strategic transformation of underperforming business units into market leaders.
2. Your experience spans drilling technology, project management, and regional business transformation. What inspired your transition from field engineering to strategic leadership and business development roles?
Response: My transition was driven by witnessing firsthand the gap between technical potential and business execution in African markets. Early in my career, I observed that many technically sound projects failed due to poor stakeholder management, inadequate local capacity, or misaligned commercial models. This realization occurred during a particularly challenging deepwater project, where we had atechnical solution but were unable to implement it effectively due to organizational silos. I understood that to truly transform African energy operations, one needed to bridge technical expertise with strategic business thinking. The turning point came when I successfully turned around the Nigerian drilling fluids business from a loss-making unit to a profitable operation. This experience demonstrated that by combining engineering excellence with innovative business strategies, we can create sustainable value for all stakeholders, from international operators to local communities.
3. You have a strong foundation in sustainable operations and local capacity building. What does responsible and inclusive energy development mean to you professionally and personally?
Response: Responsible energy development means creating value that extends beyond drilling metrics and profit margins. Professionally, it is about ensuring that every project we execute builds lasting capabilities in local communities. I have personally mentored over 200 African engineers, with 85% remaining in the industry and 60% now holding senior positions. This is not just training. It is building a sustainable ecosystem where African talent can lead African energy development. Personally, it reflects my belief that “wisdom is simply living life, having experiences along the way, and learning from them.” Every well we drill should leave behind not just hydrocarbons extracted, but knowledge transferred, skills developed, and communities empowered. This philosophy has guided my implementation of local supplier development programs, educational partnerships, and the transformation of compliance requirements into competitive advantages.
Section 2: Technical Expertise and National Impact
1. During your roles at major operators like ExxonMobil, Shell, and Total, how did you ensure operational integrity and compliance with safety and environmental standards?
Response: My approach to operational integrity is built on three pillars: proactive design, real-time monitoring, and continuous improvement. For HPHT wells with ExxonMobil’s Nkandaproject, I implemented what became known as the Adaptive Response Protocol (ARP), which monitors fluid properties every 15 minutes and triggers automated alerts for any deviations. This reduced NPT by 40% while maintaining zero HSE incidents. Environmental compliance extends beyond meeting regulations.I pioneered the use of water-based mud systems in deepwater operations that traditionally required oil-based systems, achieving comparable performance while eliminating discharge risks. At Shell SPDC, I developed a dual-gradient simulation approach that opened previously undrillable depleted reservoirs. Every operation undergoes a rigorous Job Risk Analysis, with input from local teams that understand the unique regional challenges. My teams have maintained zero significant environmental incidents across all operations for three consecutive years.
2. You’ve managed drilling operations across 18 African countries with diverse geological and regulatory environments. What challenges did you face in standardizing operations while respecting local contexts, and how did you address them?
Response: The challenge of operating across Africa is that each country presents unique geological formations, regulatory frameworks, and business cultures. In Nigeria, we face complex JV requirements; in Tanzania, infrastructure limitations; in Ghana, stringent local content mandates. My solution was the “Core Standards, Local Adaptation” framework. We established non-negotiable safety and quality standards applicable everywhere, then developed country-specific modifications. For example, in remote Uganda operations, we created mobile-first digital solutions that work on basic smartphones with intermittent connectivity. In Mozambique, we developed frugal innovations, such as locally fabricated solids control equipment, which performs at 40% of the cost of imported equipment. The key was building regional hubs in Nigeria, Ghana, and Tanzania that could rapidly deploy resources while maintaining local relationships. This approach reduced cross-border response time by 60% while improving local stakeholder satisfaction by 45%.
3. Your technical innovations, such as HPHT drilling solutions and intelligent optimization systems, aim to transform industry practices. What broader impact do you envision from your work?
Response: My vision extends beyond individual well success to fundamentally changing how the industry operates in emerging markets. The intelligent drilling optimization systems we are developing, using machine learning, will democratize advanced drilling capabilities, allowing smaller operators to achieve the performance levels of major oil companies. Our HPHT innovations have already opened 2.3 billion barrels of previously inaccessible reserves in West Africa alone. However, the real impact lies in the multiplier effect; the 200+ engineers I’ve trained are now training others, resulting in exponential growth in African technical capability. My work on sustainable drilling practices demonstrates that environmental protection and operational efficiency are complementary, not competing goals. In the long term, I envision African operations setting global best practices in sustainable and efficient drilling, with our frugal innovations being adopted in other emerging markets facing similar challenges.
4. How do you see the integration of digital technologies with traditional drilling operations improving efficiency, especially in remote African locations?
Response: Digital transformation in African drilling operations is not about importing Silicon Valley solutions; it is about developing fit-for-purpose technologies that work within our constraints. I have implemented predictive analytics that forecast rheological changes 4-6 hours in advance, allowing proactive adjustments even with limited real-time communication. Our mobile-first approach means field engineers in remote Mauritania can access technical databases and receive expert support using basic smartphones. More importantly, digital tools have enabled knowledge transfer at scale; a junior engineer in Gabon can learn from a complex operation in Nigeria through our digital learning platforms. The key is to ensure that these technologies enhance rather than replace human expertise, particularly in Africa, where we’re building local technical capacity.
Section 3: Thought Leadership and Research
1. In publications like your work on reservoir optimization and intelligent drilling systems, what strategies did you use to ensure comprehensive, practical research findings?
Response: My research philosophy is that every publication must address a real-world problem in a specific field. For my 2020 paper on “Modern Reservoir Optimization Techniques,” I analyzed data from 47 wells across six countries, ensuring findings were applicable across diverse geological settings. I collaborate with field engineers who provide ground truth, academic partners who ensure rigor, and operators who validate practical applicability. For the 2025 “Intelligent Drilling Optimization Systems” publication, I conducted parallel trials, comparing traditional methods with ML-enhanced operations across 12 wells to quantify the improvements. I employ a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative analysis of performance metrics with qualitative interviews of field personnel to identify implementation challenges and longitudinal studies to verify sustainability. Peer review includes both academic experts and field practitioners, ensuring theoretical soundness and practical relevance. This approach has led to my papers being cited over 30 times and, more importantly, being implemented in actual field operations.
2. Operational efficiency remains critical in volatile oil markets. Based on your business transformation experience, what innovative strategies do you recommend for companies during market downturns?
Response: Market downturns require counter-intuitive thinking;it is when you should invest in capability, not retreat. During the COVID-19 pandemic, while competitors were laying off staff, I retained 90% of our workforce through creative scheduling,redeployment into training activities, and, for the most part, activation of vacation models with reduced salary structure. This meant that when markets recovered, we had trained and loyal teams ready to capture opportunities. My “Performance Partnership Model” aligns service company compensation with well performance rather than day rates, sharing both risk and reward. This attracted clients during budget constraints and built lasting partnerships. I recommend three strategies: First, develop frugal innovations that deliver 80% of the performance at 40% of the cost. Second, use downturns as an opportunity for capability building, training your workforce, upgrading systems, strengthening partnerships, and reviewing operating models. Third, develop flexible commercial models that accommodate client constraints while maintaining adequate margins. During the last downturn, these strategies enabled us to increase our market share from 17% to 45% while improving profitability by 27%.
3. How do you ensure your approach in both technical operations and business management remains evidence-based and focused on stakeholder value?
Response: Every decision I make is backed by data and validated through stakeholder feedback. We’ve implemented comprehensive KPI dashboards tracking everything from drilling parameters to employee satisfaction scores. For technical operations, we maintain detailed databases of every well drilled, enabling us to create predictive models for future operations. Our business decisions undergo rigorous ROI analysis, but importantly, we measure return beyond financial metrics, including local employment created, skills transferred, and environmental impact reduced. I hold quarterly stakeholder forums where operators, partners, regulators, and community representatives provide direct feedback. This input directly shapes our strategies. For example, community feedback on water usage led us to develop closed-loop drilling fluid systems, now a standard across our operations. The key is creating feedback loops that quickly identify what’s working and what isn’t, allowing rapid course correction while maintaining strategic direction.
Section 4: Leadership, Impact, and Inclusion
1. Can you describe a moment during your field engineering or executive leadership when your attention to detail directly impacted a project outcome?
Response: During Shell’s narrow margin drilling project in the Niger Delta, we encountered a critical situation where the pressure window was only 0.5 ppg, essentially threading a needle 4,000 meters underground. I noticed a subtle trend in our rheological data suggesting polymer degradation that our standard monitoring hadn’t flagged. Rather than waiting for the scheduled maintenance, I insisted on immediate fluid conditioning. My team thought I was being overly cautious, but I had learned to trust patterns from analyzing hundreds of wells. Within two hours, we detected early signs of wellbore instability that could have led to a potentially costly stuck-pipe incident. By preemptively adjusting our fluid properties, we maintained stability and drilled to TD without incident. This attention to detail, seeing patterns that others miss, has become a hallmark of my leadership. It saved that project $3.2 million and reinforced to my team that every data point matters.
2. You’ve worked in petroleum operations in remote east & southern Africa, and across Africa in general. How has this international experience shaped your leadership philosophy and operational approach?
Response: My international experience has taught me that technical excellence is universal, but implementation must be culturally relevant. Training in Houston exposed me to world-class technical standards; working in Romania demonstrated the importance of systematic processes, but it was in Africa where I learned the essence of authentic leadership. In Uganda, I observed the power of long-term thinking and collective achievement. In Namibia, I experienced the drive for innovation and individual excellence. In Africa, I discovered that sustainable success requires Ubuntu, the philosophy that we succeed together or not at all. This shaped my leadership approach: setting international technical standards while achieving them through local wisdom and expertise. I learned to listen before directing, to understand before implementing. In Tanzania, this meant learning Swahili phrases to better connect with rig crews. In Senegal, it meant understanding French regulatory documents personally. This multicultural approach has been essential in managing operations across eight countries with diverse teams.
3. As a leader in African energy with extensive regional experience, what has your journey been like, and how can African professionals be better supported in technical leadership roles?
Response: My journey from field engineer to managing director was not always smooth. Early in my career, I faced skepticism: could an African engineer lead complex technical operations that expatriates traditionally managed? I had to work twice as hard to prove my competence, often being the only African in technical meetings. This experience drives my commitment to changing the narrative. African professionals need three things: opportunity, mentorship, and confidence. Opportunity means giving them challenging projects, not just routine tasks. Mentorship means pairing them with leaders who believe in their potential. Confidence comes from early wins and visible role models. I have implemented accelerated development programs where high-potential Africans lead critical projects with the support of senior professionals. We have created forums where young engineers present to executives, building their visibility and confidence. Most importantly, we celebrate African technical excellence; when Bryan Boadu-Benneh, whom I mentored, solved a complex drilling challenge, we ensured his innovation was recognized globally, and he was assigned a complex project in the remote location of Mauritania.Supporting African leadership isn’t charity; it’s a strategic necessity for sustainable operations.
Section 5: Vision, Public Benefit, and Outreach
1. You’ve managed critical energy infrastructure and developed local capabilities across Africa. How do you see your role evolving as the industry adapts to energy transition, digitalization, and workforce evolution?
Response: The energy transition presents Africa with an unprecedented opportunity to leapfrog traditional development patterns. My role is evolving from optimizing hydrocarbon extraction to pioneering sustainable energy solutions. We are already adapting our drilling expertise for geothermal projects, using our HPHT experience for high-temperature geothermal wells. Our digital transformation capabilities position us to lead in automated, efficient operations that minimize environmental impact. But my primary focus remains human capital, preparing African engineers for the energy future. We are expanding training to include renewable energy technologies, carbon capture systems, and hydrogen infrastructure. I envision creating Africa’s first integrated energy training center, where engineers learn both traditional and renewable energy systems. The workforce evolution means moving from expatriate-dependent to African-led operations. My goal is that by 2030, African energy projects will be designed, managed, and operated primarily by African professionals, with Africa becoming an exporter of energy expertise, not just resources.
2. What advice would you offer to students or emerging petroleum engineers who want to create impact through technical excellence and business innovation?
Response: First, master the fundamentals; you cannot innovate without a solid understanding of the basics. Spend time on rigs, get your hands dirty, and understand how things work, rather than how they should work theoretically. Second, think beyond your discipline. My biochemistry background provided me with unique insights into drilling fluid chemistry, offering great ideas to minimize its impact on both humans and the environment. Read broadly, learn continuously. Third, develop business acumen alongside technical skills. Understanding project economics, stakeholder management, and commercial models will set you apart from others. Fourth, seek challenging assignments in emerging markets where you will learn to innovate with constraints. My best innovations came from having to solve problems with limited resources. Fifth, find mentors who challenge you, not just support you. Finally, remember that lasting impact comes from developing others. Every engineer you train, every local supplier you develop, and every community you empower multiplies your impact. Do not just drill wells; build capabilities. The industry needs engineers who can think strategically, act ethically, and lead inclusively.
3. What is your long-term vision for how petroleum engineers can shape national energy security, particularly through technological innovation and sustainable practices?
Response: Petroleum engineers must evolve from resource extractors to energy architects. My vision is that we lead the integration of traditional and renewable energy systems, ensuring a reliable energy supply during the transition to a sustainable future. We possess unique subsurface expertise that is valuable for geothermal energy, carbon sequestration, and hydrogen storage. Engineers should influence policy by providing evidence-based insights on practical transition pathways. In Africa, this means developing domestic energy resources while building renewable capacity, ensuring energy security does not compromise sustainability. We must pioneer technologies that make smaller fields economically viable, reducing import dependence for developing nations. Our role in national energy security extends to developing local supply chains, reducing vulnerability to global disruptions. I am working on establishing African technical standards that ensure operational excellence while promoting local content. In the long term, petroleum engineers should be at the forefront of the circular economy, developing technologies for waste-to-energy conversion and carbon utilization. The goal is not just energy security, but energy sovereignty, nations controlling their own energy destiny.
4. Why is a commitment to ethical, sustainable, and community-centered energy development essential for the future of African economic growth?
Response: Africa cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of industrialized nations; we must chart a different path. Ethical energy development means transparency in resource management, preventing the resource curse that has plagued many African countries. Sustainability is not optional; it is existential. Africa faces the harshest impacts of climate change while contributing the least to global emissions. We must develop resources responsibly, using revenues to build renewable capacity. Community-centered development ensures energy projects create lasting local value. Every project should contribute to strengthening local economies through employment, supplier development, and infrastructure investment. This approach transforms communities from project hosts to project partners, ensuring social licenses to operate. Ihave seen projects fail because they ignored communities, but they succeed wildly when communities are genuine stakeholders. African economic growth depends on energy availability, but prosperity depends on how that energy is developed. When we train local engineers, develop local suppliers, and invest in regional infrastructure, we create multiplier effects that extend beyond the energy sector. This commitment is not just a moral imperative; it is an economic necessity for sustainable African prosperity.
Section 6: Personality, Lifestyle, and Motivation
1. Outside of your petroleum engineering work, how do you maintain balance and practice self-care?
Response: Balance for me comes from staying connected to what grounds me, family, and continuous learning. Despite managing operations across eight countries, I make a point to prioritize family time. Weekend football matches are not just recreation; there are opportunities to disconnect from spreadsheets and reconnect with the simple joys of life. I am an avid reader, not just of technical journals, but also of philosophy and African literature, which provide perspectives beyond quarterly targets. Music is my therapy; from Fela Kuti and Hugh Masekela to classical compositions, different moods require different soundtracks. I maintain my physical fitness through morning runs, which serve as a form of meditation before my chaotic days begin. Travel, although often for work, becomes an exploration when I take the time to understand local cultures, try local cuisines, and learn local phrases. I believe in the African concept of “work-life integration” rather than balance, which brings joy into work and purpose into leisure. Self-care also means knowing when to delegate, trusting the teams I have built, and recognizing that sustainable leadership requires a sustainable pace.
2. Was there a mentor, formative experience, or cultural influence that inspired you to pursue leadership in petroleum engineering and regional business transformation?
Response: My inspiration comes from three sources. First, my father, who though not an engineer, taught me that “there is no problem without a solution, you just need patience for the answer to materialize.” This philosophy carried me through countless technical challenges. Second, my experience during Nigeria’s fuel crisis in the early 2000s, when fuel queues stretched for kilometers despite having abundant reserves. I realized the problem was not a lack of resources but rather a need for systems, which inspired my focus on operational excellence and business transformation. Third, my first international training experience in Houston in 2006, where I gained insight into what world-class operations looked like through the Mud school, and I resolved to bring that standard to Africa. However, the most profound influence is the African Ubuntu philosophy, which emphasizes that individual success is meaningless without collective progress. My Igbo heritage teaches that “it takes a village to raise a child”; similarly, it takes an ecosystem to build sustainable energy operations. These influences shaped my belief that technical excellence must serve a broader purpose.
3. Finally, what’s your personal guilty pleasure—whether it’s a favorite pastime, a travel destination, or a personal tradition you cherish?
Response: My guilty pleasure is collecting and studying traditional African proverbs from every country I work in. What started as a connection with local teams became an obsession. I have notebooks filled with wisdom, such as the Senegalese saying, “Wood may remain ten years in water, but it will never become a crocodile.” This reminds us that superficial presence doesn’t equal deep understanding. When I visit a new operation, I always ask local staff for their favorite proverb and its meaning. It breaks the ice, builds connections, and often provides surprising insights into local business culture. My dream is to publish “Engineering Wisdom: African Proverbs for Modern Business,” combining traditional wisdom with contemporary applications. My other indulgence is finding the best local ‘jollof rice’ in every West African country, a delicious but controversial pursuit that sparks passionate debates about whose version reigns supreme. These pleasures remind me that beyond the complexity of HPHT wells and multimillion-dollar operations, human connection and cultural appreciation remain at the heart of successful leadership.
