Cote d’Ivoire has announced a ‘major’ offshore oil and natural gas reservoir, after a deepwater exploration by Italian oil giant, Eni.

The oil find is estimated to be up to 2 billion barrels of oil and 2.4 trillion cubic feet of associated gas. Eni, which drilled a 3,445-metre-deep well about 60 kilometres off the coast, said it will carry out a further evaluation of the wider potential of the find.

Energy Minister, Thomas Camara indicated that the find will “greatly increase Cote d’Ivoire’s proven oil reserves as well as its oil and gas production in the coming years.”

The government is entitled to a 10 per cent stake in the discovery, which was agreed after drilling at the Baleine well about 60km off the coast. This was done through the national oil company petroci Holdings. This therefore means, Eni operates the block holding a 90 per cent stake.

In a press release statement by Eni, it said that: “The discovery well has been drilled on the Baleine prospect, with the support of the Government in the difficult context of the pandemic-covid-19. Baleine-1x discovered light oil (40° API) in two different stratigraphic levels.

“An evaluation program will be carried out to assess the significant upside potential of the overall structure that extends into block CI-802, also operated by Eni with the same Joint-Venture and participating interests in the exploration phase.”
Eni

According to Eni, the Baleine is the first exploration well drilled by Eni in Cote d’Ivoire. Besides block CI-101, Eni owns a participating interest in other four blocks in the Ivorian deep water: CI-205, CI-501, CI-504 and CI-802, all with the same partner Petroci Holding.

Eni’s oil exploration and development in Cote d’Ivoire

Offshore oil was first discovered in the West African country in 1977, with the bulk of the oil and gas wells later drilled in shallow marine areas. The latest find is the first deep water commercial discovery in more than 20 years.

To date, Côte d’Ivoire has identified 51 oilfields with four in production and 26 in exploration. The government sold blocks worth US$185 million to Eni and French-major Total during a licensing round in 2019 to ramp up its oil production.

The country increased its oil production in 2019 by 12 per cent, to reach 36,000 barrels a day.

Total, Eni and other international oil companies, notably British firm Tullow Oil, announced significant discoveries of Ivorian offshore oil reserves in recent years.

Meanwhile, Eni has set ambitious targets to reduce its carbon emissions to net zero by 2050 while rapidly expanding its renewable power generation and biofuel capacity.

It has said its oil production will peak in 2025 to be increasingly replaced, in its upstream portfolio, by gas.

Eni is one of Africa’s biggest foreign oil and gas producers with assets in Libya, Nigeria, Ghana and Angola. And it is developing two bumper gas discoveries in Mozambique and Egypt.