NIGERIA UNLOCKS 53 YEAR OLD IMA GAS FIELD WITH $800 MILLION FID AS TOTALENERGIES AND AMNI MOVE TO FIRST GAS IN 2028
Nigeria unlocks Ima gas field after 53 years underground and the Presidency is calling it a turning point.
TotalEnergies and Nigerian independent AMNI International have taken an $800 million Final Investment Decision on the Ima Gas Project offshore Bonny Island in Rivers State. The FID was signed on Wednesday 24 September 2026 in Abuja.
Ima was discovered in 1973 on Oil Mining Leases OML 112 and OML 117. It sat undeveloped for more than five decades. The new plan will finally bring it to production.
The field is located in shallow water about eight kilometres offshore Bonny Island. It will be developed through a single unmanned platform powered from shore and connected to Nigeria LNG by a 22 kilometre pipeline. TotalEnergies holds 40 percent and is operator. AMNI holds 60 percent.
Production is scheduled to start in late 2028 and reach a plateau of 350 million standard cubic feet per day, equivalent to more than 60,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. The Presidency put peak at about 300 million standard cubic feet per day in its statement. The gas will supply about one third of the feedgas required for NLNG Train 7 expansion.
Train 7 is the project to raise Nigeria LNG liquefaction capacity at Bonny Island from 22 million tonnes per annum to 30 million tonnes per annum. Once Ima comes on stream it becomes a major upstream leg for that expansion and for export earnings.
TotalEnergies said the decision marks a new milestone in its integrated gas strategy in Nigeria. President Exploration and Production Nicolas Terraz said the company is unlocking low cost and low emissions gas after government incentives for non associated gas.
Managing Director TotalEnergies Upstream Companies in Nigeria Matthieu Bouyer said at the ceremony in Abuja the FID was a defining moment born of nearly two decades of partnership with AMNI and a clear vote of confidence in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu welcomed the decision in a statement issued by his Special Adviser Bayo Onanuga. He said oil and gas reforms are beginning to deliver results.
He said, “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.”
He said the administration introduced executive orders to reduce cost and time to develop projects and incentives targeting onshore and shallow water non associated gas. Ima is the fourth major gas project to reach FID since Tinubu took office after Iseni, Ubeta and HI.
The financing also carries a strong Nigerian content angle. Seven institutions are funding the project. They are Zenith Bank, Access Bank, United Bank for Africa, GTBank, Standard Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and First Abu Dhabi Bank. More than 75 percent of financing is from Nigerian banks and 77 percent arranged locally according to the Presidency. All four main contract packages will be executed by Nigerian companies. Over 60 percent of the workforce will be drawn from host communities in Rivers State.
On technical side TotalEnergies said the offshore platform will be unmanned and powered from shore with zero routine and non routine flaring and permanent methane monitoring systems installed. The total project value is estimated at $2 billion to $4 billion over its lifetime.
This sits in a wider gas push. The Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure Fund said it has deployed N671 billion in public funds to catalyse N1.6 trillion in private investment for gas pipelines and distribution infrastructure. NIPCO said it has invested about $2 billion in pipelines, compressed natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas infrastructure across the country.
Those numbers matter because gas projects only matter if power plants, factories and homes actually burn the molecules. Nigeria has about 209 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves, the largest in Africa, but domestic utilization has been held back by pipeline gaps, pricing, and delayed projects like Ima.
The Ima FID does not bring immediate relief to electricity or cooking gas prices. First gas is 2028. Construction, jobs, and community spend start now. Feedgas to NLNG Train 7 supports exports first. Domestic impact will depend on how fast the Midstream fund projects and private CNG and LPG networks can move gas inland.
For investors the signal is clearer. After 53 years idle, Ima is moving. The field that was found in 1973 is now funded, contracted to Nigerian firms, and tied to NLNG’s biggest expansion in years. Execution will now be watched, not just the announcement.
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