UTM Offshore has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to raise US$2bn for the development of a 1.2 Mt/year (1.8 bcm) floating LNG (FLNG) plant in Nigeria. In addition, the financial institution could finance the second phase of the project to the tune of US$3bn. In May 2021, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and UTM Offshore selected JGC to deliver the pre-front end engineering and design (pre-FEED) work for the project. The FLNG plant would tap gas resources from the Yoho gas field owned and operated by ExxonMobil and the NNPC. It will remove reinjected gas in the field that was used for enhanced oil recovery (EOR).
With estimated reserve of 400 mbl, the Yoho field produced first oil in 2002. ExxonMobil’s affiliate Mobil Producing Nigeria (MPN) holds a 40% stake and operatorship in the field together with the NNPC (60%). Crude loadings at Yoho’s floating storage and offloading unit reached 35,000 bbl/d in 2020.