6/28/2024–|Last updated: 6/28/202401:34 PM (Makkah Time)
Less than a year after the completion of the rapid launch of the Balin field, Italian oil giant Eni is reportedly in discussions to sell a stake in its upstream activities in Ivory Coast.
The Italian oil company is considering selling a 30% stake in the offshore field, according to a June 19 Bloomberg report citing people close to the matter.
The group, which is behind the 2021 Balin and 2024 Callao discoveries, has combined reserves estimated at 4 billion barrels of oil and 3,300 billion cubic feet of associated natural gas. It also has interests in many promising areas off the coast of this African country, and is committed to harnessing all available resources to exploit the country’s oil and gas resources.
With the announcement of a $10 billion investment for the infrastructure needed to exploit and transport black gold in Ivory Coast, Eni is reportedly working with consulting firms, including Standard Chartered, on a possible stake sale “in a deal that could fetch around 1 billion euros (1.1 billion euros). dollars), explains the American financial information expert in contact with the Africa Report website.
Ivory Coast’s Ministry of Mines, Petroleum and Energy declined to comment, as did the Italian oil company. “I don’t usually comment on uncertain topics, because sensitive issues can succeed or fail,” the company’s chief executive, Claudio Descalzi, said in a statement published by a leading Italian financial newspaper.
Eni intends to monetize the assets through the sale of a minority stake in the Balin field while retaining control of the project, which is currently jointly owned with Ivory Coast’s state-owned Petraci group, which holds a 10% stake.
The group’s strategy is to acquire and hold 90% or even 100% of exploration licenses, before selling interests after discovery or production to monetize the value of the assets and raise funds for other projects.
“Ivory Coast is one of Eni’s priority countries,” Guido Brusco, Eni’s chief operating officer for natural resources and the group’s number two, said on the sidelines of an African CEO Forum in Kigali in May.
In search of liquidity, the Italian group, which will have revenues of $101 billion in 2023, is currently studying priority projects in Africa to balance its capital allocation after 15 years of discoveries equivalent to 16 billion barrels of oil.
While Eni plans to limit its investments to $28.8 billion during the period 2024-2027, Ivory Coast relies more than ever on oil as the second pillar of its economy after agriculture.
The country’s president, Alassane Ouattara, wants to increase oil production from 60,000 barrels per day to around 200,000 by 2027, thanks to more than $15 billion in investments in the sector. “It will be a spectacular leap,” Ouattara told a joint session of parliament.
