Uche Cecil Izuora
TotalEnergies has scheduled to launch its shallow water 70,000 barrels per day project in 2026.
TotalEnergies Nigeria’s country chairman and managing director, Matthieu Bouyer, who disclosed this at the Nigerian Oil & Gas Energy Week Conference & Exhibition (24th NOG Energy Week) 2025 in Abuja, said the company has been investing significantly in the past 15 years in Nigeria, with a big project like Egina, Ikike, and also Akpo West, which was started up last year.
He spoke in a Strategic Panel Session: “Pragmatically Achieving Energy Abundance.”
“So some of the projects we have are like Ima. Ima is another gas field project offshore, which we intend to launch in the coming year,” he said.
The firm had in late 2023 launched the 700,000bpd Ubeta project, an indication of raking in 140,000bpd from the two projects in less than four years.
Bouyer said, “It is another 70,000 barrels per day, so that’s already 140 to accumulate those two gas projects of oil equivalent we will be producing in less than four years. So that’s significant.”
He commended the new rules and regulations, which are accelerating project execution in the industry, noting that TotalEnergies took the Final Investment Decision (FID) of Ubeta just within three months.
Extolling the regulator, he said, “And it was for me a demonstration that when there is a good rule, regulation, order put in place, three months later we had Ubeta being FID.
“So it is a reality that industry players can demonstrate when there is a good rule, then there is a project which makes sense and which can be launched by Ubeta like ourselves.”
He said the company has deliberately grown energy in the country in a sustainable manner with fewer emissions.
Buttressing the company’s consistent confidence in investing in Nigeria, he said it has sustained its drilling and advanced offshore in the last two and a half years.
Recall that some other International Oil Companies (IOCs) recently divested from the country, but Bouyer insisted that his firm sees the future in Nigeria.
He said, “And we have been drilling continuously up to now on our deep offshore in the past two and a half years. So the commitment to the country is undeniable, and we do believe in Nigeria, we do believe in the resources in the country, and we do believe that there is a great future in Nigeria.”
He explained that last year the company launched the Ubeta project, a significant gas field onshore, which will supply gas to Nigeria LNG and to the domestic market.
He said by launching the project, the company has demonstrated its keenness to go all the way up to LNG, which will be part of Train 7 of the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG).
He described it as a big investment that the firm is using to create value not only to the shareholders, like the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) and TotalEnergies, but also to the country.
He said the NLNG used to be one of the largest taxpayers in the country.
Bouyer vowed that with the bold steps, the firm will proceed in the gas value chain to demonstrate competitiveness.
Expressing gratitude to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), he said, “And here I want to thank NNPC and NUPRC also for demonstrating that we can shift, we can be at the head, at the top of the competition”
He said, although TotalEnergies has been silent on the exploration front, it has been very active over there, where it discovered ENTPON two years ago
He revealed that the company has already launched the feed and is working in partnership with NNPC to launch the project.
Bouyer said the firm was part of the successful awardees of the 2024 Marginal field bid round for exploration.
On flaring, he noted that TotalEnergies stopped routine flaring at the end of 2023 and now polarises it for the domestic market.
Continuing, he said “And we have also technology called OCR, which is the drone that we fly in our facilities, and we have a partnership with NNPC to fly it also on some of NNPC’s assets to detect methane leaks, and by doing so, we can then tighten the bolts, if I may say, or see where we have some leaks to, again, have less emissions and valorize the molecules in the pipeline gas networks for the country.
“So, yes, we are here to support. We have some projects in hand. We’ve recently launched in Ubeta, have Ima coming up very, very soon, and we are also working in a sustainable way to valorise all these molecules in the networks for the country.”