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Domgas race: TotalEnergies, Amni to stake $1bn in Ima gas development
Sopuruchi Onwuka
French oil multinational with substantial interests in Nigeria, TotalEnergies, has committed to stake princely billion dollars in the development of gas reserves in Amni operated Ima field offshore Niger Delta.
According tom hints available to The Oracle Today, TotalEnergies is working to assist indigenous Amni drive development and production of gas and condensate from the Ima Field after agreeing on commercial terms with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.
Total and NNPC management teams reach understanding on capital investments in Nigerian gas
TotalEnergies had negotiates gas price before committing to new investments in the country when it worked out commercial rewards ahead of its commitment with the NNPC Limited on development of the Ubeta gas field in an operated joint venture with the national oil company.
The French multinational had on June 20 signed a $550 million final investment decision (FID) for the Ubeta gas field in Nigeria a few weeks after a separate gas commercialization agreement that guaranteed rewards on the investments.
The Oracle Today reports that gas assets remain the major investment stay rod for foreign multinational oil companies currently auctioning operated onshore oil and gas stakes in their respective joint ventures with the NNPC Limited.
Despite the trend of large portfolio divestments that permanently bid farewell to Shell, ExxonMobil, Eni and ConocoPhillips from Nigeria’s onshore petroleum terrains, the foreign multinationals have maintained a tight grip on onshore gas portfolios.
For instance, Shell Nigeria Gas (SNG) remains in operation despite the divestment of onshore sister, Shell Petroleum Development company (SPDC) Limited. Shell is also driving its ANOH field development and processing project in parallel with replicate Seplat gas project onshore Niger Delta.
Despite total divestment of its Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC), Italian Eni still retains commercial interest in the Shell operated onshore gas assets in the Niger Delta.
Chevron is deep in its operated gas to liquid conversion portfolios in Western Niger Delta, partly explaining its cautious approach to the coordinated divestment programme by foreign multinational firms in the Nigerian petroleum industry.
TotalEnergies also retains its interests in other gas related investments operated by Shell onshore Niger Delta, including the NLNG Limited. It has also taken fresh investments in onshore gas commercialization with the Ubeta project in addition to existing Obite gas plant in operated OML 58 block onshore Niger Delta.
It is certain that the commercial agreement which addressed gas pricing conditions for further cleared the path for a parallel agreement with partner Amni to stake funds in Ima field gas development and commercialization.
Total holds 40 percent interest in the Ima Field gas in a complicated arrangement excludes other commodities including oil coming out from the fields which is operated by Amni International Petroleum Company Limited.
Chiarman of Amni International Petroleum Company Limited, Chief Tunde Afolabi
The Ima Oil Field which was appraised, developed and activated for production in 1996 is located in the Western part of OML 112 offshore Port Harcourt.
The field was discovered and abandoned in the 1970s by Japan Petroleum after evaluating the discovery as uneconomic for development.
Amni acquired the license in 1993, and after successful appraisal and development activities, production facilities were installed and oil production commenced in 1996.
Facilities installed included a Well Head Platform, a Production Unit, pipeline system and an offshore terminal with an FSO, the Ima Terminal. With the acquisition of the Langley, the production platform, Amni controlled the ownership of all the Field Production Facilities.
Further development drilling was undertaken in 2002 with the sidetrack of two existing wells and in 2010 drilling of two new wells prolonged the field life and increased the reserves recovery.
The non associated Ima gas reserves lie above the Ima Oil Field and were discovered at the same time as the Oil reserves.
Total entered into a Joint Venture Agreement with Amni in 2005 by acquiring a 40% working interest in both OMLs 112 and 117. An additional appraisal well Ima-12 was drilled in 2006 and confirmed reserves of over 1.6 TCF (P1) of lean gas.
The proximity to the NLNG facilities and access to deep water allows a range of development options. Amni stated that it was working with TotalEnergies to move towards the production of the Ima Gas Field.
The Oracle Today gathered that the Ima gas field development would leverage the parallel Tubu field gas development scheme in the vicinity to ultimately form the largest offshore gas facility in Nigeria.
An additional 24” pipeline is planned to connect the Tubu field well head platform (WHP) to Amni’s planned gas processing facilities which will be bridge-linked to Langley platform
Amni stated that the Tubu WHP already installed for the oil development is also designed to accommodate the planned gas wells and gas production. Processed gas will be piped to a Gas Compression Platform before entering into a sales-gas pipeline for export and/or domestic use.
Liquids from the gas production will head across the bridge-link to Langley and on to the Ailsa Craig-1 production facilities.
