Italian oil giant Eni which recently announced the discovery of a major hydrocarbon deposit in the Baleine prospect offshore the Ivory Coast has revealed that it expects to initially produce 15,000 b/d in 2023, then reach a plateau phase of around 110,000 b/d between 2025 and 2026.
The oil company who’s 20 years of oil exploration in Ivory Coast’s offshore waters paid off in September under a joint venture agreement between Eni 90% and Ivory Coast national oil company Petroci Holding 10%.
The Baleine discovery with a potential deposit of 2 billion barrels of oil and between 1.8 and 2.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas has spurred the oil firm which previously produces some 70,000 barrels per day -bpd in Ghana to believe that it can identify deposits in the West African region better than its competitors.
With the company planning to move onto the evaluation program to assess the upside potential of its Block C1-101, which extends into Block CI-802 – also operated by Eni – stakeholders are calling for a fast-tracked approach to field development.
With participating interests in four other blocks in the Ivorian deep water, as well as world-class assets in Libya, Nigeria, Mozambique, and Angola, Eni is making significant progress in the quest for hydrocarbon developments in Africa.
However, the French-Speaking West African country has been trying to attract more oil and gas majors to its largely unexplored sedimentary basins with BP, Eni, Tullow Oil, and Kosmos winning several exploration licenses across a mix of offshore and onshore blocks in Ivory Coast in the past few years.
The government also believes that what Eni has discovered just opened the door for it to offer new investors another 32 blocks aside from the other three blocks that are under negotiation said Minister of Mines, Petroleum and Energy, Thomas Camara.
