Eni Looks to Speed Up $4 Billion Oil Expansion in Ivory Coast
(Bloomberg) — Eni SpA will look to accelerate a $4 billion expansion of its offshore joint venture with Vitol Group in the Ivory Coast, Chief Operating Officer Guido Brusco said.
The Italian oil producer, along with Vitol and state-owned oil company Petroci, took a final investment decision Monday on Baleine Phase 3, aimed to increase the project’s oil production to 150,000 barrels a day from 60,000 and raise gas output.
Eni’s teams have finished similar builds in three years or less, but higher crude prices present an incentive to potentially realize the project faster by a matter of months, Brusco said in a phone interview from Abidjan. “There are always opportunities in a project schedule to save some time and of course those are very much linked to the macro, and the macro is favorable.”
A phased approach to projects has been implemented by Eni across Africa, from Ivory Coast to Mozambique, where it’s considering a third floating liquefied natural gas platform.
Baleine Phase 3 includes the development of a floating production, storage and offloading unit. The FPSO will be built in a Chinese shipyard and completed by mid-2028, Brusco said. Upon completion, gas production from the project, expected to more than double to 200 million cubic feet a day, will be supplied to the Ivory Coast.
Eni holds a 47.25% stake in Baleine, Vitol has 30% and Petroci owns the remainder. The explorer signed an agreement with Socar in January to sell 10% of its holding, which is pending government approval.
–With assistance from Kamailoudini Tagba.
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