Côte d’Ivoire President Alassane Ouattara and head of Italy’s Eni announced a major offshore discovery of oil, natural and condensate with many development options for the resources.
The large discovery in block CI-205 has been named the Calao field and is the West African nation’s second-largest ever.
Eni added that only the Baleine field discovered by Eni in September 2021 was bigger.
Côte d’Ivoire President Ouattara and Eni Chief Executive Claudio Descalzi met in the capital Abidjan on March 7 to discuss the successful results of the exploration well called Murene 1X in the Calao find.
The Prime Minister of Côte d’Ivoire, Robert Beugré Mambé, and the Minister of Mines, Petroleum, and Energy, Mamadou Sangafowa-Coulibaly, also participated in the meeting.
Resource boost
The Côte d’Ivoire’s mainly oil production has varied significantly over the past two decades as existing fields have become depleted, closed for maintenance or development works and as new discoveries have been made but have needed further investment and development.
The nation’s regional neighbours to the north, Senegal and Mauritania, are currently developing floating LNG projects, while among its southern neighbours, Nigeria is an established world-scale LNG and oil exporting nation, while Cameroon has a small FLNG project in operation.
Additionally, Eni itself has just brought onstream an FLNG project in the Republic of Congo and the first cargo was shipped to Italy.
The countries of Africa intend to develop their oil and natural gas resources for the benefit of their citizens as Western nations have done for more than 100 years despite opposition to African hydrocarbon projects from environmental elites in the developed countries of Europe and North America.
The Calao discovery was described by Eni as a “very significant” one for the country.
Drilling operations took place about 45 kilometres (28 miles) offshore in block CI-205, reaching a depth of 5,000 metres in water depths of around 2,200 metres.
Analysis
“The well encountered light oil, gas, and condensates in various intervals of Cenomanian age characterized by good to excellent permeability values,” said Eni.
“Preliminary assessments indicate potential resources ranging between 1.0 billion and 1.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent,” said the Milan-based company.
Eni operates the block in partnership with the Société Nationale d'Opérations Pétrolières de la Côte d'Ivoire, also known as Petroci.
President Ouattara and Eni CEO Descalzi discussed the appraisal and development plans for the discovery, including Eni’s commitment to meet the country’s domestic needs.
Eni has operated in the Côte d’Ivoire since 2015. In addition to block CI-205, Eni holds participating interests in five other blocks in Ivorian deep waters: CI-101, CI-401, CI-501, CI-801, and CI-802, all in partnership with Petroci .
Eni currently has an equity production of hydrocarbons totalling about 22,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day from the Baleine field, which started production in August 2023.
