TotalEnergies could approve the commissioning of a $750 million gas project in Nigeria next year, in addition to $500 million to a joint venture with the state-owned NNPC.
This represents progress in Nigeria’s bid to attract renewed investment in its hydrocarbon sector, which has been a hallmark since President Tinubu took office in May 2023.
Mike Sangster, TotalEnergies’ senior vice president of Africa, exploration, and production, revealed this recently at a France-Nigeria business forum in Paris.
“We have another dry gas project called Ima, which we hope to sanction next year for about $750 million,” he said.
The shallow-water project, developed in partnership with a local firm, aims to further enhance gas supply to the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facility.
Earlier Pledge to NNPC
Earlier this year, TotalEnergies pledged around $500 million to a joint venture with the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited to develop the Ubeta onshore field.
With an expected output of 300 million cubic feet per day, this project is set to strengthen the gas supply to the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) plant.
Speaking on further cooperation with Nigeria, Sangster said, “There’s still more to be done in terms of regulation, simplifying, and accelerating the process, but we have appreciated some of the changes that have been made over the past year.
“They have given us now the incentive or the motivation to go ahead and renew our investments in Nigeria so that we can stop the decline and start to increase production.”
Sangster advocated for a further easing of local content regulations to attract international contractors with expertise in deep-water projects back to Nigeria, noting that this would foster competition and revive investments that have been suspended.
