The Federal Government has announced the Final Investment Decision on the $800m Ima Gas Project, ending more than five decades of delays in developing the gas discovery.
TotalEnergies and Nigerian independent energy company AMNI International took the FID on the project, which is located on Oil Mining Leases 112 and 117, offshore near Bonny Island, Rivers State.
The Ima Gas Project is expected to produce 350 million standard cubic feet of gas per day at plateau and supply about one-third of the gas required for the expansion of Nigeria LNG’s Train 7.
The government described the FID, announced on Wednesday, as a major milestone in efforts to unlock Nigeria’s vast gas reserves for industrialisation, job creation and economic growth.
President Bola Tinubu, reacting to the development in a statement on Wednesday, said his administration had introduced a series of presidential directives and executive orders aimed at reducing the cost and time required to develop oil and gas projects.
“Since assuming office, I have signed a series of Presidential Directives and Executive Orders to make investment in Nigeria more competitive, reduce the cost and time required to develop projects, provide greater certainty to investors and ensure that our natural resources deliver greater value to our people.
“One of those reforms introduced specific incentives to unlock onshore and shallow-water gas projects that had remained undeveloped for years. Today, we are seeing the result. AMNI International and TotalEnergies have taken an $800 million Final Investment Decision to develop the Ima Gas Field, discovered in 1973 and left underground for more than 50 years.,” Tinubu stated.
The Ima field was discovered in 1973 but remained undeveloped for more than five decades. The FID provides the financial and commercial foundation for developing the field, with first gas production expected in 2028.
TotalEnergies, the project operator with a 40 per cent interest, said AMNI holds the remaining 60 per cent stake. The field will be developed using a single offshore platform linked to Nigeria LNG through a 22-kilometre pipeline.
Speaking at the FID signing ceremony in Abuja on Wednesday, Managing Director of TotalEnergies Exploration and Production Nigeria, Mathieu Bouyer, described the decision as the culmination of a longstanding partnership between the two companies.
“Today we mark the final investment decision for the Ima Gas development project, and it’s with a lot of emotion that I’m standing before you today because that has been a long journey, a long story, across decades now, we can say. It’s a defining moment for Ima Gas, for the partnership with AMNI International and for TotalEnergies.
“The FID confirms that technically, commercially, legally, and regulatory, we are all set and all geared to invest in a new adventure, a new project in full trust and full confidence. It’s a big project; it’s more than $600 million of investment and a clear vote of confidence in Nigeria and its oil and gas industry, and in its true confidence also in the potential of the oil and gas people of this country,” Bouyer said.
Bouyer said the project had benefited from reforms introduced by the Federal Government, particularly measures aimed at supporting the development of the non-associated gas sector.
“This decision also reflects the progress made in Nigeria’s investment environment. I would particularly like to recognise the leadership of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, that enabled and made it possible through a certain number of reforms, including the executive orders that were issued two years ago, and one specifically on the non-associated gas sector,” he said.
