Julius D. Rone OFR MD/CEO, UTM Offshore Limited
By Danlami Nasir Isah
He was born on the 5th of July, 1974. He attended the Obafemi Awolowo University Ile Ife, where he acquired his Advanced Diploma in Business Administration before proceeding to the University of Calabar for his Graduate Diploma in Business Administration.
After establishing his company, Rone strived hard to make it one of the biggest oil companies by stretching its formidable structure to gain easy access to other big deals through strategic business relationships.
Due to his combination of hard work with advanced knowledge in the business administration world, Rone made UTM Offshore Oil and Gas to be certified as one of the independent private oil and gas distribution companies in Nigeria. His company also offers advanced services like; specialized turnkey packages for any category of marine transportation movement.
His net worth is estimated to be $250,000,000 in totality and his company was incorporated 12 years ago, precisely in July 2012. The company became the first indigenous group to get the floating Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) license to operate as an independent oil and gas facility in Nigeria on February 8, 2021.
Also in 2021, the Nigerian billionaire signed one of his biggest deals with Afreximbank to generate over $2 billion to develop Nigeria’s first ever floating Liqeufied Natural Gas (LNG) plant. This deal came just some months after he had obtained the LNG license for his company.
Then most recently, on Wednesday November 16, Rone did it again by signing a multibillion-dollar partnership with KBR, JGC Corporation and Technip Energies for the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) of UTM’s floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) project.
With the recent FEED contract, UTM will move the FLNG project from the fundraising stage to the implementation phase and will continue working with NNPC Limited and ExxonMobil to expedite the development, exploitation, and monetization of stranded gas resources.
The project’s completion will ensure energy security, access to energy and clean cooking gas in Nigeria, the region, and beyond, as Europe seeks alternative gas suppliers as the bloc diversifies energy sources away from Russia due to the Ukraine conflict.
Despite his tremendous achievements, Rone exudes humility and determination. He is respected for his cheerful characteristics, such as giving to the public without looking back or thinking twice.
During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the billionaire businessman donated the sum of ₦20 million naira to the Delta State Government to help fight the disease’s breakout in the state.
Aside from this donation, he has also made several other donations to individuals and organizations that have sought financial help from him, both directly and indirectly. To sum it all, Rone is a soft hearted, humble and caring soul. He is married with children to Utibe Rone.
According to him, his wife is his major source of joy and one of the few people who keeps him going.
Due to his immense contributions to the growth and development of Nigeria, the ‘Gas King’ as he is fondly called, was conferred with the National Honour of Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR) by President Muhammadu Buhari on October 11, 2022 in Abuja.
