President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has commended the $800 million Final Investment Decision (FID) for the Ima Gas Project, highlighting it as a significant step forward in the nation’s efforts to capitalize on its extensive gas resources. This initiative aims to boost investment, promote industrialization, create jobs, and foster economic growth.
The Ima Gas Project, a collaborative effort between Nigerian independent company AMNI International and TotalEnergies, is set to achieve a peak production of approximately 300 million standard cubic feet of gas daily.
The Ima gas resource, located offshore in OMLs 112 and 117, was discovered in 1973 but remained undeveloped for more than five decades. Despite its significant reserves and potential as a source of feedgas for Nigeria LNG Limited, the resource remained underground and unable to contribute meaningfully to Nigeria’s economy. The FID, announced on September 23, has changed this narrative.
The Ima gas project marks the fourth major gas project to reach Final Investment Decision in the last four years, following the Iseni, Ubeta, and HI FIDs.
These FIDs reflect the growing momentum of investment in Nigeria’s gas sector and the administration’s drive to convert the country’s vast gas resources into productive projects that create jobs, generate revenues and expand economic opportunity for Nigerians
Special Adviser to the President, (Information & Strategy), Bayo Onanuga, in a statement, quoted President Tinubu as saying: “For more than fifty years, the gas beneath Ima remained a resource with enormous potential, but potential alone does not create jobs, finance businesses or improve the lives of our people. Our responsibility has been to create the conditions that turn Nigeria’s natural resources into productive investments and economic opportunities”
“The Final Investment Decision on Ima demonstrates what is possible when we provide investors with a competitive, predictable and enabling environment. We are determined to unlock more of Nigeria’s gas resources to power our industries, expand our exports, create jobs and build lasting prosperity for our people.”
Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Ms Olu Arowolo Verheijen, said, “The story of Ima is ultimately the story of what our reforms are designed to achieve. Nigeria has never lacked resources. The challenge has been creating the commercial and investment conditions required to move those resources from beneath the ground into projects that employ Nigerians, create opportunities for Nigerian businesses, generate revenues and support economic growth.”
“A gas discovery made in 1973 can only contribute to prosperity when somebody invests the capital to develop it, banks finance it, contractors build it, Nigerians work on it, and the gas is ultimately put to productive use. That is the transition we are seeing today.”
The project also demonstrates the growing depth of Nigerian participation across the energy value chain. AMNI International, a Nigerian-owned exploration and production company, holds a majority interest in the asset, illustrating the increasing capacity of indigenous companies to participate in and lead increasingly significant developments in Nigeria’s upstream sector.
Nigerian financial institutions have organized 77 percent of the project’s funding, with about 60 percent of the workforce anticipated to be sourced from local communities, including Bonny, Finima, and Andoni in Rivers State.
