President Bola Tinubu has welcomed an $800 million investment decision to develop the Ima offshore gas field, a discovery that has sat undeveloped for more than five decades, as the country seeks to draw fresh capital into the energy sector and expand supplies for exports and domestic industry.
Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to the President Bayo Onanuga in a statement said the
project, led by Nigerian independent producer AMNI International in partnership with TotalEnergies, is expected to produce about 300 million standard cubic feet of gas a day at peak capacity.
The Ima resource lies in offshore Oil Mining Leases 112 and 117. It was discovered in 1973 but had remained stranded amid years of commercial, fiscal and operational obstacles that have slowed investment in Nigeria’s oil-and-gas industry.
According to Onanuga, the final investment decision clears the way for development of the field, which is expected to provide feed gas for Nigeria LNG Ltd., one of the country’s principal sources of foreign-exchange earnings.
“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,” President Tinubu said.
“Our responsibility has been to create the conditions that turn Nigeria’s natural resources into productive investments and economic opportunities,” he said.
The decision is the fourth major gas project to reach final investment approval since President Tinubu took office, following the Iseni, Ubeta and HI projects.
The administration has made gas development central to its broader effort to attract investment, revive industrial output and strengthen export revenue.
Nigeria holds one of Africa’s largest natural-gas resource bases, but a substantial portion remains undeveloped.
Successive governments have struggled to convert reserves into projects because of uncertain regulation, weak infrastructure, high operating costs and disputes over fiscal terms.
President Tinubu said his administration’s approach goes beyond raising production, aiming instead to direct gas toward liquefied-natural-gas exports, electricity generation, fertiliser and petrochemical plants, and other industrial uses.
“Natural resources have value only when they are converted into opportunities for our people,” the President said.
“Our goal is to ensure that Nigeria’s gas powers Nigerian prosperity.”
The administration has sought to address the investment constraints through a series of presidential directives issued in 2024.
The measures were designed to improve fiscal competitiveness, lower project costs and shorten contracting timelines.
While the Petroleum Industry Act of 2021 established a new legal framework for the sector, many prospective projects continued to face commercial hurdles.
Olu Verheijen, the President’s Special Adviser on energy, said the Ima decision showed the intended effect of the policy changes.
“Nigeria has never lacked resources,” Ms. Verheijen said.
“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.”
AMNI, a Nigerian-owned exploration-and-production company, holds the majority interest in the asset.
Nigerian financial institutions arranged 77% of the project financing, while about 60% of the project workforce is expected to be drawn from host communities in Bonny, Finima and Andoni in Rivers State.
The Government is betting that such projects will help turn the nation’s large but underused gas reserves into a more durable source of industrial activity, jobs and export income.
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