. Petroleum products overtake crude oil, account for 47.5% of UK imports from Nigeria Festus Akanbi and Ejiofor Alike The Deputy Managing Director of TotalEnergies E&P Nigeria Limited in charge of Deepwater Assets, Mr. Victor Bandele, has disclosed that following the incentives provided by President Bola Tinubu’s administration in 2023/2024 to encourage investments on gas projects, the French energy giant’s Ubeta deepwater project and Ima shallow water offshore field are on course to achieve first oil in 2027 and fourth quarter (Q4) of 2028, respectively. This is coming as refined petroleum products have overtaken crude oil as the United Kingdom’s largest goods import from Nigeria, accounting for 47.5 per cent of total goods imports from the country in the 12 months ended March 2026. Speaking in Lagos at a special panel session at the Nigeria Annual International Conference and Exhibition (NAICE) 2026, which ended at the weekend in Lagos, Bandele explained that the incentives provided by President Tinubu’s administration encouraged TotalEnergies and other operators to launch new deepwater projects on gas. Though he did not disclose the production capacities of the Ubeta and Ima projects, THISDAY gathered from industry sources that each of the two gas projects can produce up to 70,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), which is about 300 million standard cubic feet per day (scf/d) of gas. While the Ubeta field is located in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 58, 80 kilometres offshore Port Harcourt, the Ima Field is also located offshore Port Harcourt, under the AMNI/TotalEnergies Joint Venture. The two projects are expected to boost gas supply to the nearby Nigeria LNG Limited. Bandele recalled that since TotalEnergies brought the Egina deepwater oil field on stream in 2018, oil and gas operators have not brought any other deepwater projects on stream due to a lack of incentives. “I am happy today to speak about projects that have matured because of the shift in processes. We know there were incentives for offshore natural gas, and that was in 2023/2024. So, what did TotalEnergies do? We took the Final Investment Decision (FID) on Ubeta in 2024. The Ubeta project is ongoing as we speak. It is one of the projects with the highest local content, as many Nigerian companies are participating. And Ubeta should be in production next year. So, incentives improved; projects sanctioned and projects will be delivered,” Bandele explained. “I think that is the trend we are desperate to see in Nigeria. Today, we are working on concluding FID for the Ima project with our partner. The FID is imminent, and first oil is planned for Q4, 2028,” he added. Gas from the two projects will be sent as feedstock to the Nigeria LNG facility, whose train 7 is currently under construction at Bonny Island. TotalEnergies and several other gas operators, including Shell and NNPC Limited, agreed in August 2025 to supply 1.29 billion cubic feet of gas feedstock per day to NLNG. Petroleum Products Overtake Crude Oil, Account for 47.5% of UK Imports from Nigeria Meanwhile, refined petroleum products have overtaken crude oil as the United Kingdom’s largest goods import from Nigeria, accounting for 47.5 per cent of total goods imports from Nigeria in the 12 months ended March 2026. Latest figures in the Nigeria Trade and Investment Factsheet, released by the UK Department for Business and Trade and quoted by Nairametrics, showed that Britain imported £674.5 million worth of refined petroleum products from Nigeria during the period, considerably higher than the £438.9 million spent on importation of Nigerian crude oil. Crude oil, which traditionally dominated Nigeria’s merchandise exports to the UK, accounted for 30.9 per cent of British goods imports from Nigeria. At the same time, natural gas ranked third at £179.3 million, representing 12.6 per cent. According to the report, UK crude oil imports from Nigeria plunged by 64.3 per cent compared with the preceding 12-month period, while natural gas imports rose by 6.9 per cent. Apart from petroleum products, other major British goods imports from Nigeria included coffee, tea and cocoa products valued at £29.3 million, representing 2.1 per cent of total goods imports, and processed fertilisers worth £25.2 million, or 1.8 per cent. Interestingly, refined petroleum products also dominated trade flows in the opposite direction, emerging as the UK’s biggest goods export to Nigeria during the review period. Britain exported £725.6 million worth of refined petroleum products to Nigeria, accounting for 51.2 per cent of its total goods exports to the country. This was despite a 44.7 per cent year-on-year decline in the value of the products exported. Other leading UK exports to
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