Eni and its consortium partners Petroci and Vitol have taken the final investment decision (FID) for Phase 3 of the Baleine oil and gas project offshore Côte d’Ivoire.
The decision was formalised during a ceremony held in Abidjan attended by Mamadou Sangafowa-Coulibaly, Côte d’Ivoire’s Minister of Mines, Petroleum and Energy, signalling strong government support for the project’s continued expansion.
Phase 3 is designed to substantially scale up the Baleine field’s output, lifting oil production from the current 60,000 barrels per day to 150,000 barrels per day.
Gas production is similarly targeted to rise from 80 million cubic feet per day to 200 million cubic feet per day upon full development.
To achieve these targets, the expansion will incorporate a new floating production, storage and offloading unit alongside infrastructure improvements aimed at advancing operational efficiency, safety performance, and environmental standards.
Eni has confirmed that all gas produced from Phase 3 will be directed to the domestic Ivorian market, supporting electricity generation and local industrial demand.
The Baleine field has followed a notably accelerated development timeline since its discovery. Commercial production commenced in August 2023, fewer than two years after the initial discovery and just 19 months after a prior investment decision.
Phase 1 utilised a refurbished FPSO capable of processing up to 18,000 barrels per day and approximately 25 million cubic feet per day of gas.
Phase 2, brought online in late 2024, expanded capacity to 50,000 barrels per day and around 70 million cubic feet per day.
The Phase 3 FID now sets the project on course for a further tripling of peak oil output.
Eni reentered Côte d’Ivoire in 2015 and currently holds interests in the CI-101 and CI-802 blocks, which together host the Baleine field, in partnership with Petroci.
The Italian energy company also participates in four additional deepwater licences within Ivorian waters.
The Baleine field stands as the largest hydrocarbon discovery in Côte d’Ivoire’s history and the first commercial find in the country in two decades.
Beyond its production significance, the project has been positioned as a contributor to the country’s domestic energy security, with gas volumes allocated entirely to in-country supply.
In a separate development earlier this year, Eni signed a definitive agreement to sell a 10 per cent stake in the Baleine project to the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan, SOCAR, further broadening the consortium’s international profile.
The Baleine project has drawn attention across the upstream sector as a model for phased deepwater development in West Africa.
The combination of discovery-to-production speed, a domestic gas commitment, and successive FIDs within a compressed timeframe has positioned it as a reference case for African offshore development.
With Phase 3 now sanctioned, the Baleine field is on track to become a material contributor to regional oil supply over the coming years.
