President Bola Tinubu says the $800 million Final Investment Decision (FID) by TotalEnergies and AMNI International Petroleum Development Company on the Ima Gas Field shows that Nigeria’s oil and gas reforms are beginning to attract fresh investment.
Tinubu said the investment demonstrated the impact of measures introduced by his administration to make Nigeria a more competitive destination for oil and gas investment.
The president made this known in a statement on the development on Wednesday.
The Ima Gas Field, discovered in 1973, has remained undeveloped for more than five decades.
The project straddles the OML 112 and OML 117 offshore licences in Nigeria’s shallow waters near Bonny Island, Rivers State.
TotalEnergies, the project operator, holds a 40 per cent interest, while AMNI holds the remaining 60 per cent stake.
The field will be developed through a single offshore platform connected by a 22-kilometre pipeline to Nigeria LNG’s facilities at Bonny Island.
Production is expected to begin in 2028, with output projected to reach about 350 million cubic feet of gas per day.
The project is expected to supply about one-third of the feed gas required for the Nigeria LNG Train 7 expansion.
The Train 7 expansion is expected to increase NLNG’s liquefaction capacity from 22 million tonnes per annum to 30 million tonnes per annum.
Tinubu said his administration had introduced specific incentives aimed at unlocking onshore and shallow-water gas projects that had remained undeveloped for years.
“Today, we are seeing the result,” the president said.
He said the project would create opportunities for Nigerian engineers, technicians and contractors while generating jobs and economic activity in host communities.
“AMNI, a Nigerian company, holds the majority interest in the project,” Tinubu said.
“About 60 per cent of the development workforce is expected to come from the host communities,” he added.
The president said the project would also contribute to Nigeria’s export earnings as the government seeks to expand the monetisation of the country’s gas resources.
“This is what our reforms are intended to achieve, to move Nigeria’s resources from potential to production and translate them into jobs, incomes and opportunity for our people,” Tinubu said.
TotalEnergies has described the Ima project as a low-cost, low-emissions development.
The project will use electricity supplied from shore, have no routine flaring and incorporate continuous methane detection and monitoring, according to the company.
The partners said all major contracting packages for the project would be awarded to Nigerian companies.
The Ima development follows TotalEnergies’ Ubeta gas project, which was sanctioned in 2024 and is expected to begin production in 2027.
Tinubu said the investment reinforced the Federal Government’s push to accelerate gas development and convert undeveloped resources into productive assets.
“We have more to unlock,” the president said.