ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Côte d’Ivoire’s Council of Ministers approved on Thursday the signing of production sharing agreements with Eni (BIT:) related to four oil blocks.
The agreement provides for a minimum investment of $80 million in blocks CI-504, CI-526, CI-706 and CI-708 in the first period of three years, the Council said in a statement.
Eni did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The world’s leading cocoa-producing country hopes to become a major regional oil and gas producer and energy hub and expects oil production to more than triple by 2027, thanks to recent oil and gas discoveries.
Eni, whose presence in the African country dates back to the 1960s with its subsidiary Agip Côte d’Ivoire, last year started oil production at the Baleine field in the Ivory Coast, which has estimated reserves of 2.5 billion barrels of oil and 3,300 billion cubic feet. of natural gas.
(Translated by Laura Contemori, editing by Claudia Cristoferi)