The State Oil Firm of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) has signed an settlement to accumulate a ten p.c stake within the producing Baleine area offshore Côte d’Ivoire from operator Eni SpA, the businesses stated Thursday.
“This transaction represents SOCAR’s entry to Africa’s huge oil and fuel sources and aligns strategically with SOCAR’s international enlargement imaginative and prescient”, SOCAR stated in an announcement on its web site.
At present Italy’s state-controlled vitality main Eni owns 47.2 p.c stake in Baleine, to be decreased to 37.2 p.c after the completion of the sale to SOCAR. World vitality dealer Vitol Group owns 30 p.c, acquired from Eni final yr. Société Nationale d’Opérations Pétrolières de la Côte d’Ivoire has 22.75 p.c.
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“The transaction aligns with Eni’s technique of optimizing its upstream portfolio by accelerating the monetization of exploration discoveries by means of the divestment of fairness stakes, a mannequin generally known as the twin exploration mannequin”, Eni stated individually.
SOCAR famous, “Baleine is taken into account one of many largest oil and fuel discoveries made in West Africa lately”.
Baleine, developed in two phases, produces over 62,000 barrels a day of oil and greater than 75 million cubic ft per day of pure fuel, Eni stated. It plans to lift the sphere’s day by day capability to 150,000 barrels of oil and 200 million cubic ft of fuel underneath part 3.
Baleine in 2021 grew to become the Ivory Coast’s first industrial hydrocarbon discovery since 2001 and is now the nation’s “essential offshore improvement”, based on Eni.
The settlement with SOCAR, executed on the sidelines of the World Financial Discussion board in Davos, is topic to regulatory approvals and different customary situations, the businesses stated. They didn’t disclose the value of the transaction.
The settlement is a part of a broader collaboration between the 2 that includes pursuing hydrocarbon exploration and manufacturing to safe gasoline for Europe, in addition to emission discount tasks. They launched the partnership in 2024 with the signing of three memorandums of understanding (MOUs).
“The primary MOU targeted on the enlargement of Eni and SOCAR’s cooperation on hydrocarbon exploration and manufacturing, with the intention of strengthening the vitality safety of Europe, and Italy specifically”, Eni stated in an announcement September 5, 2024.
“A second MOU envisages the cooperation of Eni and SOCAR to cut back greenhouse fuel emissions and enhance vitality effectivity within the upstream sector in Azerbaijan, by means of the appliance of finest accessible applied sciences”, Eni stated. “These embody the analysis of carbon seize and transportation options from current vegetation in numerous industrial sectors, storage and utilization in deposits in Azerbaijan, in addition to the identification of renewable vitality improvement undertaking alternatives”.
Underneath the third MOU, Eni and SOCAR are to discover cooperation on producing biofuels from agricultural merchandise in Azerbaijan and the Caucasus area.
To contact the writer, electronic mail jov.onsat@rigzone.com
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