Austin Avuru is a Nigerian geologist, entrepreneur, and oil and gas executive. He is the co-founder and former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Seplat Petroleum Development Company. In April 2025, he was appointed a non-executive director of the

Nigerian National Petroleum Company The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited is a state-owned oil company in Nigeria. Still a fully-owned government company, it was transformed from a corporation into a limited liability company in July 2022. NNPC Limited is the on ...

(NNPC) by President

Bola Tinubu Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Adekunle Tinubu (born 29 March 1952) is a Nigerian politician serving as the 16th and current president of Nigeria since 2023. He previously served as the governor of Lagos State from 1999 to 2007, and senator for Lagos ...

Early Life and background

Avuru was born on August 17, 1958 in Ipetu Ijesa.

Education

Austin obtained his first school leaving certificate at Orogun Grammar School. He graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Geology from the

University of Nigeria Nsukka The University of Nigeria, commonly referred to as UNN, is a federal and public research university located in Nsukka, Enugu State, South-east Nigeria. Founded in 1955 by Nnamdi Azikiwe who was Governor-General of Nigeria between 1960 and 1963 ...

in 1980, where he was the best overall student. In 1983, he completed a four-month course at the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), Effurun, Warri, where he emerged as the best overall student in Petroleum Engineering, Geology, and Geophysics. He is a graduate of the Owner/President Management (OPM) program at

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

Career

Austin Avuru began his career in 1980 at the

Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited is a state-owned oil company in Nigeria. Still a fully-owned government company, it was transformed from a corporation into a limited liability company in July 2022. NNPC Limited is the on ...

(NNPC), where he held various positions including Wellsite Geologist, Production Seismologist, and Reservoir Engineer over a 12-year period. In 1992, he joined Allied Energy Resources, serving as Exploration Manager and later as Technical Manager for a decade. In 2002, Avuru founded Platform Petroleum Limited and served as its Managing Director. During this time, he played a pivotal role in the development of Nigeria's local content policy, chairing the technical subcommittee that drafted the policy blueprint which became the Nigerian Content Act of 2010. In 2009, he co-founded Seplat Petroleum Development Company and was appointed as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) on May 1, 2010. Under his leadership, Seplat achieved significant growth, including dual listing on both the Nigerian and London Stock Exchanges. Avuru retired as CEO in July 2020 and continued to contribute to the company in a non-executive capacity. In 2025, he was appointed as a non-executive director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), by President

Publications and Recognitions

Austin has written books including: Politics, Economics and the Nigerian Petroleum Industry. He co- authored a handbook: Nigeria’s oil industry, including Nigerian Petroleum Business. He was recognized with the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2013 for Nigeria and West Africa.

References

Living people 1958 births University of Nigeria alumni {{improve categories, date=April 2025