TotalEnergies, AMNI Approve $800m Nigeria Gas Project to Supply NLNG Train 7

TotalEnergies and Nigerian independent energy company AMNI International have reached a final investment decision on the development of the Ima gas field offshore Nigeria.

The Nigerian government valued the final investment decision at $800 million, marking the transition of a gas resource discovered more than five decades ago from prolonged inactivity into full development.

Located across Oil Mining Leases 112 and 117 in shallow waters near Bonny Island, Rivers State, the Ima field is expected to begin production in 2028.

At peak production, the development is designed to deliver about 350 million cubic feet of gas per day, equivalent to more than 60,000 barrels of oil equivalent daily.

The output will be particularly important to Nigeria’s liquefied natural gas industry, with Ima expected to provide roughly one-third of the gas required by the ongoing NLNG Train 7 expansion.

Train 7 is designed to increase Nigeria LNG’s liquefaction capacity from 22 million tonnes per annum to 30 million tonnes, strengthening the country’s ability to process and export more natural gas.

TotalEnergies holds a 40 percent interest in Ima and will operate the development, while AMNI controls the remaining 60 percent.

The partners plan to develop the field using a single offshore platform connected to the NLNG facility through a 22-kilometre pipeline.

The investment brings a resource discovered in 1973 closer to commercial production after more than 50 years without development.

Beyond increasing gas supply to NLNG, the project could help address one of the constraints facing Nigeria’s ambition to expand its LNG business: securing sufficient and reliable feedgas for existing and additional liquefaction capacity.

TotalEnergies has designed Ima as a relatively low-cost and low-emissions development.

The offshore installation will receive electricity from shore rather than relying on permanent offshore power generation, while the project has been designed without routine flaring and will incorporate permanent methane detection and monitoring systems.

The project will also have a significant Nigerian-content component.

Major project packages are expected to be executed by Nigerian contractors, while about 60 percent of the workforce involved in development activities is expected to come from communities surrounding the project.

The Ima investment follows other gas projects being advanced as producers respond to efforts to improve the economics of developing Nigeria’s substantial non-associated gas resources.

TotalEnergies sanctioned the Ubeta gas development in 2024, another project intended to supply Nigeria LNG.

For Ima, however, the partners are committing capital to a discovery that remained commercially stranded for more than half a century despite its proximity to one of Nigeria’s most important gas-processing and export facilities.

There are different figures attached to the scale of the investment.

The Nigerian presidency described the final investment decision as $800 million, while TotalEnergies said its project investment exceeds $600 million.

AMNI, which owns the majority interest, separately estimated the overall development cost at approximately $1.108 billion.

AMNI also estimates that Ima contains about 1.28 trillion cubic feet of independently confirmed gross non-associated gas reserves.

At the planned plateau production level, the company expects the field to sustain approximately 350 million standard cubic feet per day for at least eight years.

The move to execution gives Nigeria another potential source of long-term gas production at a time when the government is seeking to convert its large reserves into LNG exports, domestic energy supply, industrial feedstock and additional foreign-exchange earnings.

For NLNG, the significance extends beyond the size of the investment.

Train 7 will require additional feedgas to utilise the expanded liquefaction capacity effectively. Ima’s projected contribution of around one-third of that requirement makes the field an important component of the broader expansion programme.

With the final investment decision now taken, attention will shift to project execution ahead of the targeted 2028 start-up and the ability of TotalEnergies and AMNI to deliver the field within schedule and cost expectations.