Tinubu, Fubara, Zenith Bank, Others Hail $800m Ima Gas FID

| Project to supply 33% of feedstock for Nigeria LNG’s Train 7

President Bola Tinubu, Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara, Zenith Bank and other stakeholders have welcomed the $800 million Final Investment Decision (FID) for the Ima Gas Development Project, which is expected to supply about one-third of the feedstock required for Nigeria LNG’s Train 7.

The FID was signed yesterday in Abuja by TotalEnergies EP Nigeria and AMNI International Petroleum Development Company Limited, more than five decades after the Ima gas resource was discovered in 1973.

Developed offshore in OMLs 112 and 117, the project is expected to produce about 300 million standard cubic feet of gas per day at peak. It will be connected to the existing Bonny Non-Associated Gas Plant on Bonny Island through an 18-inch, 23-kilometre multiphase pipeline, with first gas targeted for December 2028.

AMNI holds a 60 per cent interest in the asset, while TotalEnergies holds 40 per cent and remains the operator.

Tinubu: ‘Potential Alone Does Not Create Jobs’

In a statement by his special adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, President Tinubu described the FID as the fourth major gas project to reach that milestone since he assumed office, following the Iseni, Ubeta and HI FIDs.

Tinubu said that for more than 50 years, the gas beneath Ima had remained a resource with enormous potential, but that potential alone could not create jobs, finance businesses or improve people’s lives.

He said the government’s responsibility was to create conditions that convert natural resources into productive investment, adding that the Ima FID demonstrated what a competitive, predictable and enabling investment environment could achieve.

He added that his administration was determined to unlock more of Nigeria’s gas resources to power industry, expand exports, create jobs and build lasting prosperity.

The Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Olu Verheijen, said the Ima project reflected the purpose of the government’s reforms, noting that a discovery made in 1973 only becomes productive when capital, banks, contractors and workers are brought together to develop it.

She said the FID was the fourth gas FID reached in two years and would ultimately be measured not only by the volume of gas produced but by the economic opportunities it creates.

Fubara: Investment Affirms Rivers State’s Role As Energy Capital

Governor Fubara, represented by his chief of staff, Sunny Ewule, described the FID as a reaffirmation of investor confidence in Nigeria, its gas industry and Rivers State as the energy capital of Africa.

He attributed the investment partly to improvements in security and stability along the state’s waterways, adding that, as host to Nigeria LNG’s Train 7, Rivers State stood to benefit from the project’s value chain, from wellhead production to job creation.

He said the project aligned with the state’s agenda on jobs, industrialisation and sustainable development and would also support efforts to reduce gas flaring.

Supplying a Third of Train 7’s Feedstock

TotalEnergies EP Nigeria Managing Director, Mathieu Bouyer, said Ima’s output, equivalent to more than 60,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, would meet about one-third of the gas supply requirement for Nigeria LNG’s Train 7.

He described the project as the product of more than two decades of partnership between TotalEnergies and AMNI, supported by improvements in Nigeria’s investment climate.

Bouyer said the project was designed to minimise operational emissions through an unmanned, shore-powered offshore platform, zero routine flaring and permanent methane monitoring.

He added that all four major project packages would be handled by Nigerian contractors, with more than 60 per cent of the workforce drawn from host communities, including Bonny, Finima and Andoni.

AMNI Chairman, Tunde Afolabi, said the FID reflected confidence in Nigeria and its partnership with TotalEnergies. He recalled that he and TotalEnergies Chairman Patrick Pouyanné signed the Heads of Terms for the project in Houston in May 2024.

Afolabi said indigenous participation should be measured by technical capability, financial discipline, governance and execution rather than ownership share alone. He added that the focus would now shift to safe, responsible and efficient project execution.

Regulators and Government Officials React

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, described the FID as a major milestone that would boost gas supply to Nigeria LNG and strengthen Nigeria’s position in the global gas and LNG market.

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, attributed renewed investor confidence to federal reforms and urged Nigerian banks to continue financing oil and gas projects. He also called on industry players to shorten the period between project conception and FID.

The Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, said her engagement with the Ima project dates back more than a decade and credited recent reforms and executive orders with helping advance it to FID.

She pledged continued regulatory support to remove obstacles facing investors.

Representing NNPC Limited Group CEO, Bayo Ojulari, the company’s Executive Vice President, Upstream, Udobong Ntia, congratulated the partners and said NNPC would work with them to achieve first gas.

Zenith Bank, Access Bank Cite Local Financing Milestone

Zenith Bank Executive Director, Corporate Banking, Oil & Gas, Akin Ogunranti, congratulated AMNI, TotalEnergies and their partners, noting that Nigerian banks financed 77 per cent of the project.

He contrasted this with a gas-to-liquids project about 20 years ago, when Nigerian banks collectively raised only $50 million of the $2.75 billion project cost. He said the comparison demonstrated the growth of local financing capacity.

Access Bank Plc Managing Director/CEO, Roosevelt Ogbonna, said the scale of Nigerian bank participation had broadened the meaning of “local content” in the sector.

He added that Access Bank was proud to be associated with global partners such as TotalEnergies, which has operated in Nigeria for more than six decades.

Significance for Nigeria

The Ima FID adds to a series of gas projects reaching investment decisions under the current administration, supporting government claims that fiscal and regulatory reforms are attracting capital to a sector that has long faced underinvestment, despite Nigeria’s position as one of Africa’s largest holders of natural gas resources.

The project’s contribution to Train 7’s feedstock strengthens the prospects for Nigeria LNG’s expansion, while the participation of Nigerian banks and contractors highlights the growing local capacity to finance and execute major upstream projects.