Career Biography

Okezi Okah-Avae is a senior legal and regulatory compliance adviser with more than 15 years’ experience in the Oil and Gas and Energy sectors, with additional expertise in infrastructure and project finance, corporate restructuring, investment banking, private equity, and M&A.

He is currently an Executive Director and General Counsel at Tetracore Energy Group, Okezi leads the Legal Department and the Regulatory Compliance Division, driving legal strategy, corporate governance and permitting for the company’s gas and power portfolio. He developed Tetracore’s Group Corporate Governance Policy to standardise governance across affiliates.

Mr. Okah-Avae has led legal delivery for landmark PNG and CNG projects in Nigeria and Ghana, including a 25 MMSCFD piped natural gas City Gate facility (Benin City), a 6.2 MMSCFD CNG mother station (Ogun State), and Tetracore’s CNG plant construction in Tema, Ghana (the first CNG plant in Ghana). He has also secured regulatory permits and consents for three major gas-supply/power projects (a 10MW IPP owned and operated by Tetracore, a 55MW IPP in Ologbo and a 25 MMSCFD gas supply to a steel producer), coordinating with NERC, State Electricity Commissions, NMDPRA, the Ministry of Environment and FIRS.

He has obtained the first Gas Shipper Licence issued by NMDPRA, enabling Ying Zhi Energy Limited to be the first company in Nigeria to operationalise the Gas Transportation Network Code.

Mr. Okah-Avae is currently leading the drive to ensure proper project contract administration and regulatory compliance for Tetracore’s 10MMSCFD mini-LNG project which is expected to drive increased natural gas penetration within Nigeria.

On the regulatory and sector policy work, Mr. Okah-Avae supervises Tetracore’s applications for three off-grid power generation licences from NERC (combined ≈15MW) and leads licensing and permitting across multiple gas and power projects. He served as a Legal Consultant on the World Bank–funded Power Sector Recovery Program (PSRP), reporting to the Office of the Vice President, contributing to policy and contract-market reforms aimed at restoring sector financial viability. He has also worked as senior Legal Counsel at NNPC Gas Infrastructure Company (NGIC) and NNPC Gas Marketing Limited (NGML) (from Dec 2017–Jan 2020): key negotiator and contract administrator on the NGIC–NGML–Seplat ANOH gas development project (circa 3.4 BSCF/D) and acted as legal adviser on the $2.8bn Ajaokuta– Kaduna–Kano gas pipeline and gas monetisation strategies and as senior Associate at Bloomfield Law Practice advising local and foreign investors on mini-LNG, marginal field investments and utility-scale PV projects.