Ivory Coast’s Council of Ministers has approved production-sharing agreements with Eni for four oil blocks.
Under the deal, a minimum of $80 million will be invested in blocks CI-504, CI-526, CI-706, and CI-708 over an initial three-year exploration period, the council said in a statement.
The world’s top cocoa-producing nation is hoping to become a major regional oil and gas producer and energy hub and expects oil output to more than triple by 2027, boosted by recent oil and gas discoveries.
Eni, which has been in Ivory Coast since the 1960s through its subsidiary Agip Côte d’Ivoire, began oil production at the Baleine field last year. The field holds estimated reserves of 2.5 billion barrels of oil and 3.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
