Oil and Natural Gas in Côte d'Ivoire

Oil and Natural Gas Home

Click HERE for an overview

Côte d’Ivoire relies on oil, natural gas and hydropower to satisfy energy consumption demand. In addition to satisfying domestic demand, Côte d’Ivoire’s oil exports bolster overall economic activity in the country, and represents 28 percent of the country’s total export revenue. According to the World Bank, oil exports have surpassed cocoa exports, which traditionally have been the mainstay of Cote d’Ivoire’s economy. Côte d’Ivoire’s oil production, which is primarily located offshore, should increase slightly in 2007 and 2008.
Côte d’Ivoire’s oil production increased from 56,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) in 2005 to 89,000 bbl/d in 2006. New fields coming online, as well as field enhancement work allowed for the increasing oil production. Production is forecast to increase slightly over the next 2-year period, with the possibility of reaching 110,000 bbl/d by 2008. According to estimates by Oil and Gas Journal (OGJ), Côte d'Ivoire had 100 million barrels of proven crude oil reserves as of January 2007. The vast majority of reserves are located offshore in shallow marine areas and in deep offshore waters.
n 1975, Côte d’Ivoire established the Société Nationale d'Operations Pétrolières de la Côte d'Ivoire (Petroci) to oversee the country’s oil operations. In 1998, the government re-structured Petroci by dividing it into four entities, which include: Petroci Holding (responsible for portfolio management of the oil sector), Petroci Exploration-Production (responsible for upstream hydrocarbon activities), Petroci-Gaz (responsible for the natural gas sector), and Petroci Industries-Services (responsible for all other related services). Foreign companies involved in Côte d’Ivoire’s oil sector include Canadian Natural Resources Ltd, Dana Petroleum (U.K.), Devon Energy (U.S.), Oil India Ltd, Pluspetrol (Argentina), Sinopec (China), and Tullow Oil.

• Oil production: 32,900 bbl/day (2005 est.)
• Oil proved reserves: 220 million bbl (2006 est.)

• Natural gas production: 1.3 billion cu m (2004 est.)
• Natural gas proved reserves: 28.32 billion cu m (1 January 2005 est.)

• Devon Energy Corporation operates the Lion and Panthere fields on Block CI-11, which, according to IHS Energy GEPS Reports, netted the company 3,600 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) in 2006. Devon's partners on Block CI-11 include Petroci, Pluspetrol of Argentina, and International Finance Corporation. In addition to Block CI-11, Devon holds interests (ranging from 35 percent to 80 percent) in several other blocks in Côte d'Ivoire. As of April 2007, Devon was considering selling its Côte d’Ivoire interests .
  
  
• Tullow Oil has production, development and exploration interests in several offshore blocks - CI-103, CI-105, CI-107, CI-108 and CI-26, Special Area E. Block CI-26 comprises the producing East Espoir oil field, the West Espoir field, which started production in July 2006 and the Acajou discovery, which is expected to be developed as a subsea tie-back. The East Espoir field in Special Area E commenced production in February 2002 and averaged 18,960 boepd during 2005. However during 2006, the field achieved record production of over 30,000 bopd following a successful infill drilling programme. Oil production from the first West Espoir development commenced in July 2006. The development remains within budget and is on schedule to reach peak production of 10,000 boepd in late 2007. The project includes a new wellhead tower, tied back via a 5.5 km pipeline to the Espoir FPSO where fluids produced from East and West Espoir are co-mingled and processed using the existing facilities. Together the two fields are currently producing over 35,000 boepd.

Source: Tullow Oil

• In August 2005, Canadian Natural Resources (CNR) brought its Baobab oil field onstream, with initial production averaging 48,000 bbl/d. According to IHS Energy GEPS Reports, Baobab achieved peak production of 52,000 bbl/d during the first quarter of 2006. However, due to sand control problems, Baobab was producing only 25,000 bbl/d during the later half of 2006. The offshore field is located in Block CI-40. CNR is operator of the block with a 57.6 percent interest and is joined with partners Svenska Petroleum Exploration AB (27.4 percent), and Petroci (15 percent). CNR also operators the Espoir field, which is located in Block CI-26. In 2006, the Espoir field produced an average of 31,000 bbl/d of oil. The field has a life expectancy of 20 to 25 years, with production expected to peak at 35,000 bbl/d of oil. The West Espoir field began producing in mid-2006 and is expected to peak at around 13,000 bbl/d of oil in 2007. CNR holds 58.7 percent interest in Block CI-26 and is joined with partners Tullow Oil (21.3 percent) and Petroci (20 percent).
  

• Vanco Energy Company has estimated that 2.7 billion barrels of oil is located in the San Pedro ridge and other deposits in Block CI-112 off the western coast of Côte d'Ivoire . India 's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Ltd (21.2 percent), Oil India (10.4 percent) and China 's Sinopec (27 percent) signed on to the CI-112 project in December 2004, reducing Vanco's stake to 27 percent. This is the first African deepwater exploration venture for all three state-owned firms. In March 2005, Vanco drilled the San Pedro 1 well on Block CI-112, but later plugged the well due to a lack of hydrocarbons. In October 2005, Vanco signed two production sharing agreements ( PSAs ) with Côte d’Ivoire for Blocks CI-401 and CI-101.