Italy’s Eni announces oil, gas discovery offshore Côte d’Ivoire

Italy’s Eni said it found significant reserves of oil and gas offshore Côte d’Ivoire, with a specific well in particular having as much as 1.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent of potential resources.

This will be Eni’s second big hydrocarbon discovery off the West African nation over the past few years following on from its play opening Baleine find that was fast-tracked to first production in 2023.

“The well encountered light oil, gas, and condensates in various intervals of Cenomanian age characterized by good to excellent permeability values. Preliminary assessments indicate potential resources ranging between 1 and 1.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent,” Eni said in a press release.

The President of Côte d’Ivoire Alassane Ouattara and the Chief Executive Officer of Eni Claudio Descalzi discussed the development plan of the discovery and the role the project will play in addressing local energy needs.

Eni operates Block C1-205 in partnership with Ivorian National Oil Company Petroci Holding.