Ivory Coast awards E&P rights for offshore block

Dec. 14, 2007
Ivory Coast has awarded oil exploration and production rights to a consortium of Edison 31.5%, Tullow 27%, and Kufpec 10% for the CI-102 Block off Abidjan.

Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 12 -- Ivory Coast has awarded oil exploration and production rights to a consortium of Edison SPA 31.5%, Tullow PLC 27%, and Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Co. 10% for the 1,000-sq-km CI-102 Block off Abidjan. Ivory Coast will hold the remaining 31.5% stake.

Ahead of new anticipated production, the government has been stepping up its construction of the country's oil and gas infrastructure in recent months.

In November, President Laurent Gbagbo inaugurated construction of a 385-km oil pipeline linking Abidjan with the country's interior.

The €167 million pipeline will have a capacity of 1.6 million cu m/year. It will come online in January 2009.

Earlier in November, Ivory Coast started construction on its second refinery, a 60,000 b/d facility on a 400-hectare site in the Vridi district of Abidjan (OGJ Online, Nov. 16, 2007).

Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].