The stakes are high, and for billionaire businessman Kola Karim, the latest $500 million financing deal could prove pivotal in his ambition to transform Shoreline Group into a truly global African energy powerhouse.
Arranged by Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), the Islamic financing package is designed to bankroll an ambitious drilling programme at Oil Mining Lease 30 in the Niger Delta, with Karim’s Shoreline Natural Resources targeting production of more than 100,000 barrels per day by the end of 2027.
It is a bold target for an asset whose output has hovered between roughly 45,000 and 70,000 barrels per day in recent years. But then, bold bets have never been alien to Karim.
The urbane businessman and consummate dealmaker has steadily built a reputation for venturing where capital, energy and opportunity intersect. And with the latest Qatari financing, he appears to be taking that strategy to another level.
OML 30, one of Shoreline’s flagship assets, was acquired from Shell in 2012, when the company took a 45 per cent interest in the block. The asset, which includes the strategically important Trans Forcados pipeline, has since remained central to Shoreline’s Nigerian oil ambitions.
The QIB transaction is particularly noteworthy because of its source and structure. It gives Shoreline access to Gulf capital while adding an Islamic-finance dimension to a funding strategy that has previously drawn substantial backing from international investors and African financial institutions.
In 2018, Shoreline secured a $530 million financing package involving Vitol, Farallon Capital Management and Nigerian banks. More recently, in June 2026, the group secured a $200 million dual-tranche facility from Afreximbank to support its expanding interests, including the $980 million Hassi Bir Rekaiz oil development in Algeria.
But Karim’s ambitions stretch well beyond crude. From engineering and infrastructure to power, telecommunications and agriculture, his business interests have grown into a diversified portfolio. Shoreline has also expanded into the United States, while investing in gas compression infrastructure in the Niger Delta.
For Karim, who holds the traditional title of Agbaoye of Ibadanland, the attraction appears to be the opportunity to build an African-owned enterprise with a footprint far beyond Nigeria.