NNPC Hails $800m FID on Ima Gas Project

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) has welcomed an $800 million Final Investment Decision (FID) on the Ima Gas Project, an offshore development that will supply feedgas to Nigeria LNG's Train 7 expansion, now more than 92% complete at Bonny Island.

The Ima project, located in OMLs 112 and 117 offshore Nigeria, is being developed by indigenous operator AMNI International in partnership with TotalEnergies.

It is expected to produce about 300 million standard cubic feet of gas a day at peak, feeding into Nigeria LNG's Train 7 expansion, which will raise the plant's total capacity from 22 million tonnes per annum to 30 million tonnes once complete.

Feedgas underpins a project years in the making

Train 7's need for reliable feedgas, the raw natural gas piped in to be processed into liquefied form, has become increasingly urgent as the roughly $5 billion expansion nears completion.

First sanctioned in December 2019 and built by the SCD consortium of Saipem, Chiyoda and Daewoo, the project reached 92% completion by May 2026, with commissioning expected in 2027.

Once operational, Train 7 is projected to generate over 12,000 direct construction jobs and tens of thousands more indirectly, according to NLNG, while extending the six-train Bonny Island plant's three-decade history of exporting Nigerian gas to international buyers.

Securing new upstream gas supply, such as Ima, has been a recurring theme in Nigeria's LNG sector, given the plant's capacity has historically outpaced the volume of gas reliably delivered to feed it, a mismatch that has periodically constrained output from the existing six trains.

NNPC Group Chief Executive Officer Bashir Bayo Ojulari described the Ima FID as "a decisive vote of confidence in Nigeria's gas sector and in the bold reforms" that have created competitive terms and a predictable investment environment.

According to NNPC, the FID was made possible by presidential directives issued in 2024, which introduced fiscal incentives for non-associated gas, streamlined contracting and lowered development costs.

Ima is the fourth major gas project to reach FID under President Bola Tinubu's administration, following the Iseni, Ubeta and HI projects.

NNPC frames the deal as a model for future projects

NNPC said it commends the collaboration between AMNI, TotalEnergies and Nigeria's financial sector, describing the pairing of an indigenous operator, an international partner and domestic capital as a template it hopes to see replicated in future gas developments.

The company said it remains committed to working with government, regulators and industry partners to sustain investment momentum and deploy Nigeria's gas resources for industrialisation, job creation and long-term prosperity.

How quickly the Ima project moves from FID to first gas, and whether its output arrives in time to support Train 7's 2027 commissioning target, will be an early test of whether Nigeria's recent run of gas project approvals is translating into the supply volumes its LNG expansion actually needs.