Vitol Seals Acquisition of 30 Percent Stake in Ivorian Field

Eni SpA has completed a 30 percent farm-down of the producing Baleine field offshore Cote d’Ivoire to Vitol Group.

“The transaction aligns with Eni’s strategy of optimizing its upstream portfolio by accelerating the monetization of exploration discoveries through the divestment of equity stakes, a model known as the “dual exploration model'”, Italy’s state-backed global energy major Eni said in a statement Thursday.

Eni now owns 47.25 percent in Baleine. Petroci retains 22.75 percent.

Late last year Eni put onstream the second phase of Baleine, raising the field’s production capacity to 60,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) and 70 million cubic feet of associated gas per day (MMcfd).

“Phase II will see the Floating Production, Storage and Offloading Unit Petrojarl Kong deployed alongside the Floating Storage and Offloading Unit Yamoussoukro for the export of oil, while 100 percent of the processed gas will supply the local energy demand through the connection with the pipeline built during the project’s phase I”, Eni said in a press release December 28, 2024.

Eni said then phase III was under study and expected to further grow Baleine’s output to 150,000 bopd and 200 MMcfd of associated gas.

“Baleine is the first net-zero emission upstream project (Scope 1 and 2) in Africa, made possible through the adoption of advanced technologies, which minimize the operations’ carbon footprint, and innovative initiatives developed in close collaboration with the Ivorian ministries”, Eni said.

On September 1, 2021, it declared Baleine as the Ivory Coast’s first commercial hydrocarbon discovery since 2001. Eni put Baleine’s preliminary estimates at 1.5 to two billion barrels of oil in place and 1.8 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) to 2.4 Tcf of associated gas.

Congo LNG

Baleine is part of a $1.65 billion transaction between Eni and Vitol announced March that would also see Vitol obtain 25 percent in Congo LNG. Eni owns 65 percent in Congo LNG.

Congo LNG is Republic of the Congo’s first gas liquefaction project to come online, according to Eni. Started up last year, Congo LNG has a production capacity of three million metric tons per annum (MMtpa). The Marine XII oil and gas field project will enable exports mainly to Europe, according to Eni.

Last month Eni said the floating LNG (FLNG) unit for the expansion of Congo LNG has departed Shanghai for Congo-Brazzaville and that the floating production unit (FPU), which will treat natural gas for delivery to the FLNG or liquefaction unit, had also been completed and is set to sail to the Central African country in days.

The new FLNG platform, called Nguya, has a liquefaction capacity of 2.4 MMtpa. It will raise Congo LNG’s capacity to three MMtpa. Eni expects to start up Congo LNG Phase II by year-end.

Currently Congo LNG operates through the Tango FLNG unit, which has a capacity of 600,000 metric tons a year according to Eni.

Ghana

Elsewhere in West Africa, Vitol and Eni are already co-venturers in Ghana’s Offshore Cape Three Points (OCTP) and Block 4 projects.

Eni, Vitol and their OCTP partners recently signed a memorandum of intent with Ghana’s government to raise the country’s oil and gas production and pursue “sustainable initiatives”.

“The agreement will evaluate a comprehensive and integrated investment plan, aimed at contributing to national goals for reliable, affordable and low-impact access to energy”, Eni said in a statement September 16, 2025. 

“Among the key initiatives proposed is the possible increase in OCTP project production capacity, leveraging synergies between offshore and onshore upgrades, aimed at increasingly meeting the country’s growing domestic energy demand.

“The collaboration focuses also on the evaluation of exploration activities and the new potential development of the Eban-Akoma field in Cape Three Points Block 4, which, following the declaration of commerciality announced in July 2025, is set to become a new and significant source of supply, leveraging on existing infrastructure for the benefit of value and time to market”.

In 2021 Eni announced a “significant” oil discovery in Cape Three Points (CTP) Block 4. The discovery, the Eban-1X well, is the second in the block, after the Akoma discovery, according to Eni.

“Preliminary estimates place the potential of the Eban-Akoma complex between 500 and 700 million barrels of oil equivalent in place”, Eni reported July 6, 2021.

Eni operates CTP Block 4, which spans 1,127 square kilometers (435.14 square miles), with a 42.47 percent stake. Vitol owns 33.98 percent, Ghana National Petroleum Corp (GNPC) 10 percent, Woodfields Upstream Ltd 9.56 percent and Explorco four percent, according to information on the Ghanaian Petroleum Commission’s online Petroleum Register.

The OCTP project, meanwhile, produces 33 billion cubic feet of gas and four million barrels of oil and condensate annually – in total, 11 million barrels of oil equivalent a year, Eni says on its website. OCTP is the only development whose gas output is entirely dedicated to Sub-Saharan Africa, according to Eni.

Eni owns a 44.44 percent operating stake in OCTP, which spans 693 square kilometers, according to the Petroleum Register. Vitol owns 35.56 percent. GNPC holds 20 percent.

To contact the author, email jov.onsat@rigzone.com