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| Photo Credit: President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (ABAT) |
President Bola Tinubu has described the final investment decision (FID) by AMNI International and TotalEnergies on the Ima Gas Field as evidence that his administration’s reforms in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector are beginning to attract fresh investment.
In a statement on Wednesday, Tinubu said the project shows that measures to improve the investment climate are yielding results. The Ima field, discovered in 1973, had remained largely undeveloped for decades.
According to the president, since taking office his administration has issued Presidential Directives and Executive Orders intended to make the sector more competitive, reduce project development time and cost, give investors greater certainty, and increase value from Nigeria’s resources. He specifically noted incentives aimed at onshore and shallow-water gas projects that had stayed dormant.
“Today, we are seeing the result,” the statement quoted Tinubu as saying. He added that the development would create work for Nigerian engineers, technicians, and contractors, opportunities for local businesses, jobs and economic activity in host communities, and additional export earnings. About 60% of the workforce during development is expected to come from host communities. The gas is also expected to support Nigeria’s LNG expansion plans. Tinubu concluded that the goal of the reforms is “to move Nigeria’s resources from potential to production and translate them into jobs, incomes and opportunity for our people,” adding “We have more to unlock.”
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Project details from the operators
TotalEnergies (40%, operator) and Nigerian company AMNI (60%) announced the FID for the Ima gas field, which straddles OML 112 and 117 in shallow waters near Bonny Island. Production is targeted to start in 2028 and reach a plateau of 350 million cubic feet of gas per day (more than 60,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day).
The development will use a single offshore platform connected by a roughly 22 km pipeline to the Nigeria LNG plant. The field is expected to supply about one-third of the gas needed for NLNG’s Train 7 expansion, which aims to raise liquefaction capacity from 22 million tonnes per annum to 30 Mtpa.
TotalEnergies has described Ima as a low-cost, low-emissions project featuring a simplified platform design, power from shore, no flaring, and permanent methane detection and monitoring. All key contractors are expected to be Nigerian companies, reinforcing local content. The operator linked the project to incentives introduced by the Nigerian government for non-associated gas developments and its broader integrated gas strategy in the country (following the earlier Ubeta project). totalenergies.com
Context
The Ima field’s long dormancy and the new FID fit a pattern of recent upstream activity that Nigerian officials have attributed to policy changes on fiscal terms, regulatory clarity, and incentives for gas.
Independent reports confirm the FID and the technical/commercial parameters above; the precise investment amount cited in some statements (including references to approximately $800 million) should be treated as reported by the presidential statement or secondary sources unless confirmed in the operators’ primary materials.
This development is one data point in Nigeria’s efforts to increase gas supply for both domestic use and LNG exports. Readers interested in the broader reforms can review the series of Presidential Directives and Executive Orders issued since 2023, as well as official operator updates on production timelines and community benefits.
Sources / further reading
• TotalEnergies official announcement on the Ima FID
• Reuters and industry reporting on the project
• Presidential statement (as reported)
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