NNPC Ltd/TotalEnergies’ $550m Ubeta gas project takes off
Omeiza Bilal
The $550 million upstream gas project between the NNPC Ltd and TotalEnergies on the development of the Ubeta field has taken off, the Presidency announced on Tuesday.
Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Olu Verheijen, disclosed this during an inaugural US-Nigeria Strategic Energy Dialogue, hosted by the U.S. State Department in Washington, DC.
The signing ceremony of the $550 million Final Investment Decision (FID) on the Ubeta Field Development Project took place in Abuja in June, this year.
The Ubeta field, which was discovered in 1964, is located northwest of Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Speaking at a luncheon organised as part of the inaugural US-Nigeria Strategic Energy Dialogue, Verheijen said the upstream gas project would deliver 350 million standard cubic feet of gas per day when operational.
Verheijen added that major energy reforms introduced by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu since June 2023 focused on improving energy security, attracting investments, and deepening collaboration with key partners, including the US government.
She said the key reforms had improved the viability of the gas-to-power value chain of the country.
The reforms, according to her, included initiatives to improve cash flows in electricity distribution through smart metering and the payment of outstanding debts owed investors and to reduce carbon emissions from gas production.
Responding, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of the State Department’s Bureau of Energy Resources, Geoffrey Pyatt, said the dialogue was apt and strategic.
“The inaugural U.S.-Nigeria Strategic Energy Dialogue has set the stage for strengthened energy collaboration between the United States and Nigeria.
Together, we’re advancing shared energy security, decarbonisation, and economic growth goals,” he said.
