AMNI and TotalEnergies approve development of the Ima gas field

AMNI International and TotalEnergies announced a final investment decision on 23 September for the offshore Ima gas development, after the field remained undeveloped for more than five decades. The field was discovered in 1973 and lies off Rivers State, according to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission.

AMNI holds a 60 per cent interest and TotalEnergies, the operator, holds 40 per cent. NUPRC says the project is expected to reach first gas by the end of 2028 and produce around 350 million standard cubic feet per day at plateau. The regulator says the output is expected to supply about one-third of the feed gas for Nigeria LNG’s Train 7 expansion.

Financing and project value

At the FID ceremony, TotalEnergies’ managing director put the investment at more than US$600 million and said seven Nigerian financial institutions were providing about 77 per cent of the financing. A separate State House release described the FID as an US$800 million project. The two government-published statements give different headline investment figures and do not reconcile the difference.

The regulator said local contractors would handle the four main project packages and that the project was expected to create work for communities near the development. Those are announced expectations; the operational and local-content results will become measurable as construction proceeds.

A long-delayed resource enters development

The decision is a concrete project milestone: partners have approved development and financing arrangements. It is distinct from production, which NUPRC currently expects in 2028. Delivery will depend on construction, infrastructure and commissioning over the next two years.