TotalEnergies, AMNI approve $800m Ima Gas project

The Federal Government has secured a final investment decision on a gas discovery that remained undeveloped for more than five decades and has finally moved towards production, with TotalEnergies and Nigerian independent AMNI International taking the Final Investment Decision on the $800m Ima Gas Project.

The project, located on Oil Mining Leases 112 and 117 offshore near Bonny Island, Rivers State, 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 Nigeria LNG Train 7 expansion.

The government described the FID announced on Wednesday as another major milestone in its efforts to turn Nigeria’s huge gas resources into productive assets capable of supporting industrialisation, job creation and economic growth. TotalEnergies, however, put its investment in the project at more than $600m.

President Bola Tinubu, while reacting to the development in a statement on Wednesday, stated that his administration had signed a series of presidential directives and executive orders aimed at reducing the cost and time required to develop oil and gas projects, while providing greater certainty for investors.

“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 50 years. The FID now provides the financial and commercial basis for its development, with first gas expected in 2028.

TotalEnergies, which is the operator with a 40 per cent interest, said AMNI holds the remaining 60 per cent. The field will be developed with a single offshore platform connected through a 22-kilometre pipeline to Nigeria LNG.

Speaking at the FID signing ceremony in Abuja on Wednesday, TotalEnergies Exploration and Production Nigeria Managing Director, Mathieu Bouyer, described the decision as the culmination of a long 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 the project had benefited from reforms introduced by the Federal Government, particularly measures targeting 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.

He added that the project would be developed with significant Nigerian participation, with the four major project packages to be handled by local contractors.

“The Nigerian content is, therefore, central to Ima, and all of the four main packages here will be handled by local Nigerian contractors, and it will be done from Nigeria by Nigerians,” Bouyer said.

“The mission is simple. It’s not only an investment in energy infrastructure. It’s an investment in Nigerian companies, Nigerian talent, and Nigerian long-term value and industrial capabilities.”

He said more than 60 per cent of the work done locally would be carried out by workers from communities around the project, while the development would also provide opportunities for employment, contracting and technical skills development.

TotalEnergies said the project had been designed as a low-emissions development, with the offshore platform powered from shore and operated without permanent offshore power generation. It will also have no routine flaring and permanent methane detection and monitoring systems.

AMNI Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Tunde Afolabi, said the FID represented the fulfilment of a commitment made by both companies when they signed Heads of Terms in Houston in May 2024.

“Today is much more than the signing and approval of an investment. It represents the fulfilment of a commitment. It represents confidence in Nigeria. It represents the power of partnership,” Afolabi said.

He said the project demonstrated that Nigeria could still attract long-term capital when the right conditions were created. “Capital is disciplined. Capital has choices. And major energy companies today have investment opportunities competing for funding across many parts of the world.

“Therefore, when companies take an FID in Nigeria, it sends an important signal. It says that opportunities in this country can still be identified, structured, financed and developed successfully. But we should never take that confidence for granted.”

Afolabi said reaching FID was only the beginning, adding that the partners must now focus on safe execution, cost and schedule discipline, environmental responsibility, Nigerian content and engagement with host communities.

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission Chief Executive, Mrs Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, said the project demonstrated the impact of recent government reforms on investment decisions.

“His Excellency has taken very, very bold steps. Five years ago, three years ago, four years ago, we could not have conceived that today we would be sitting here to celebrate a project if he had not done what he did. Those executive orders are really why we are standing here,” she said.

Eyesan pledged that the upstream regulator would continue to remove obstacles facing investors. “As the chief regulator in the industry, we will enable business. We will unclog obstacles. We might not do it overnight, but rest assured that we will do it,” she said.

The FID makes Ima the fourth major gas development to move into execution as Nigeria seeks to increase gas production and strengthen supplies to the domestic and export markets.

The project will be particularly important to Nigeria LNG, whose Train 7 expansion is expected to raise liquefaction capacity from 22 million tonnes per annum to 30 million tonnes. TotalEnergies said Ima would provide about one-third of the gas required for the expansion.

For the partners, the immediate target is now first gas in 2028, turning a discovery made in 1973 into a producing asset and a new source of gas supply for Nigeria’s LNG value chain.(Punch)