Ivory Coast: Eni makes giant oil discovery

Eni announced a huge oil and natural gas discovery offshore of the Ivory Coast. The deep-water exploration led to the discovery at 3,445 meters deep of the field that could contain as many as two billion barrels of oil and 51 million cubic meters of natural gas. According to the Ivorian Energy Minister Thomas Camara, the discovery would greatly increase Ivory Coast’s proven reserves in the coming years. The 3,445-metre-deep well was drilled about 60 kilometres (40 miles) off the coast in 30 days, Eni said, and added that it would now carry out a further evaluation of the wider potential of the find. Ivory Coast comprises 51 identified oil fields. Of those, only four are in production whereas 26 remain in exploration and 21 are untapped. In 2019, Ivory Coast signed contracts for exploration with Eni and Total.