Igho Charles Sanomi (born 17 May 1975) is a Nigerian billionaire businessman, geologist, public speaker and philanthropist with business interests in oil, power, logistics, telecommunications, the maritime industry, aviation Eand real estate.
Sanomi founded Taleveras Group (a Nigerian energy-trading company) in 2004. According to Forbes, Taleveras
… trades over 100 million barrels of crude oil as well as several million tons of gasoline, LPG and jet fuel. In April 2012, Taleveras acquired production sharing contracts (PSCs) for three offshore oil blocks in Ivory Coast. In June 2013, Taleveras sold a 65% stake in one of its Ivorian offshore upstream projects to Lukoil of Russia for an undisclosed price. Taleveras also owns a stake in a power distribution firm in Nigeria.
Venture-Africa, a bimonthly Pan-African business magazine about African capitalism, described the group as
… trading close to a billion barrels of crude oil and millions of tons of condensates, gasoline, jet fuel, condensates and LPG every year. Taleveras also owns substantial stakes in two oil blocks in Nigeria as well as lucrative production sharing contracts (PSCs) in three offshore oil blocks in Ivory Coast. The group Power subsidiary constructs electrical substations in Nigeria and recently acquired a majority stake in the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company. Taleveras has an annual turnover of several billions of dollars. Igho Sanomi is the controlling shareholder of the group. »
On 30 July 2013, Taleveras Group acquired Afam Power. It was one of the Nigerian companies reportedly awarded oil-lifting contracts in the federal government’s bid, through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), to award nearly half of the 2012–2013 lifting contracts (worth $60 billion) to indigenous companies—promoting local content and « downsizing contracts awarded to international oil traders ».[9]
In October of that year, Taleveras Group signed a technical agreement with Alstom Group for the rehabilitation and expansion of the 776-megawatt Afam power plant in Rivers State. Patrick Kron, chairman and chief executive (président-directeur général) of the French engineering conglomerate, signed the agreement with Taleveras Group during his visit with Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan, Nigerian business leaders and members of the international business community in Lagos, Nigeria.
