President Bola Tinubu says AMNI International, a Nigerian oil and gas company, and TotalEnergies have taken a Final Investment Decision (FID) worth $800 million to develop the Ima Gas Field, more than five decades after its discovery.
Gatekeepers News reports that Tinubu disclosed this in a post on his X account on Wednesday, saying the gas field was discovered in 1973 but remained undeveloped for over 50 years.
“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 fifty years,” he said.
The President said the decision was evidence that measures introduced by his administration to reposition Nigeria’s oil and gas industry were beginning to produce results.
Tinubu said his administration had introduced a series of Presidential Directives and Executive Orders aimed at making investment in Nigeria more competitive, reducing the cost and time required to develop projects, and 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,” he said.
According to him, one of the reforms introduced specific incentives designed to unlock onshore and shallow-water gas projects that had remained undeveloped for years.
“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,” Tinubu said.
Jobs, gas supply
The President said development of the Ima Gas Field would create opportunities for Nigerian engineers, technicians and contractors while generating economic activity in host communities.
“It means opportunities for Nigerian businesses, jobs and economic activity in our host communities, and more export earnings for our country,” he said.
Tinubu added that AMNI, a Nigerian company, holds the majority interest in the project, while about 60 percent of the development workforce is expected to be sourced from host communities.
He said the Ima field was expected to produce about 350 million cubic feet of gas per day at peak production and supply approximately one-third of the gas required for the expansion of Nigeria LNG.
Tinubu said the project reflected the objective of his administration’s reforms: moving Nigeria’s natural resources from potential to actual production and converting them into “jobs, incomes and opportunity for our people”
