Eni Awarded Cote d'Ivoire Blocks

Eni said March 22 it has obtained 90% operating stakes in two new exploration blocks 50 km offshore Cote d’Ivoire. Its partner with 10% in both will be state Petroci.

Blocks CI-101 and CI-205 are in the eastern Tano basin and cover 2,850 km²; the former covers water depth up to 2,500 metres while the latter covers depths of 2,000-2,700 metres. Eni since 2015 has held a 30% stake in offshore block CI-100.

To the east, Eni operates the OCTP fields offshore Ghana that will produce first oil by mid-2017 and first gas by mid-2018; the development is also in the Tano basin. The UK's Tullow has oil and gas production offshore Ghana, discoveries off Cote d'Ivoire, and partners Canada's CNR at Espoir.

Total meanwhile is to drill a well offshore Cote d’Ivoire in July preceded by a seismic campaign starting next month, said the French major’s Africa upstream chief Guy Maurice on March 21 according to local reports. Total and six partners, including Shell, Azerbaijan's state company Socar and Petroci, are developing an LNG import project for Cote d’Ivoire, scheduled to start up 2018. 

Many offshore explorers in the region are targeting oil, but gas is often present. Last year Foxtrot International said its two new gasfields Marlin and Manta, started production on Cote d’Ivoire’s CI-27 offshore block. Canada’s CNR has long operated two Ivoirian oil and gas fields: Baobab and Espoir. 

Meanwhile Eni March 23 announced a successful oil discovery from its Amoca-2 well offshore Mexico on its 100%-owned Area 1 in Campeche Bay, Gulf of Mexico. It was the first well drilled by an international major since Mexico’s 2013 energy reform.

Mark Smedley