Lokpobiri seeks faster investment decisions, says delays hurt oil, gas sector

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri, has called for faster investment decisions in Nigeria's oil and gas sector, stating that delays are hurting the industry. Lokpobiri made the request during the signing ceremony for the Ima Gas Project, a joint venture between Nigerian independent AMNI International and TotalEnergies.

The $800m Ima project, located offshore near Bonny Island in Rivers State, has been in development for over five decades since the gas field was discovered in 1973. The project is expected to commence production in 2028, with the field reaching a plateau of 350 million standard cubic feet of gas per day and supplying about one-third of the gas needed for the ongoing Nigeria LNG Train 7 expansion.

Lokpobiri attributed the long period required to reach Final Investment Decisions (FID) to one of the issues the industry needs to address. He emphasized that shorter FID periods would be beneficial for the industry, noting that a recent project took over two years to reach FID. The minister urged the industry to negotiate FID periods within a shorter timeframe, such as within six months, as demonstrated by one company's commitment to TotalEnergies to make a decision in October or November.

Lokpobiri also attributed the improvement in investment activity to reforms introduced by President Bola Tinubu's administration, particularly measures aimed at providing greater fiscal and regulatory certainty.