Conference debates potential of Ivory Coast

David Knott
Senior Editor

While the oil industry is in bad shape worldwide because of low oil prices, West Africa is still a bright star on the industry's horizon.

This is the view Steve Thornton, director of international operations planning, Ocean Energy Inc., Houston, offered delegates to the Offshore West Africa conference in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on Mar. 23.

"West Africa is one of the fastest-growing exploration and production theaters in the world," said Thornton. "It has vast resources that have hardly been exploited yet."

Mohamed Lamine Fadika, the Ivory Coast's energy minister, told delegates that his government sees the petroleum industry as a key to its ambitions to transform the country's economy from one based on agriculture to a more diverse one.

Fadika said the country has ambitions for both upstream and downstream oil and gas projects, and that the 200-1,400 m water depth range in offshore blocks is now seen as holding the most potential for the Ivory Coast.

Shell International BV and Ocean Energy are partners with state firm Petroci on the CI-105 offshore license area. Fadika said Shell and Ocean Energy plan to drill the country's first deepwater well on that block by the end of June.

New infrastructure

In addition to exploration and production initiatives, Fadika told delegates the Ivory Coast plans to utilize produced gas in new industries, to boost its refining capacity, and to develop pipeline and trading operations in a bid to provide added value to oil and gas production.

Fadika said the Ivory Coast is committed to a scheme to build a gas pipeline linking a number of West African countries, called the Open Access West Africa Pipeline Corp. He expects to sign an agreement to begin negotiations for the pipeline in London on Mar. 30.

He added that the pipeline agreement would constitute a launching pad for a new cooperation among countries in North and South Africa: "We have the possibility to build a durable international petroleum industry. The aim of the Ivory Coast is to become the Rotterdam of West Africa."

Daniel Kablan Duncan, prime minister of the Ivory Coast, told delegates that Ivorian gross domestic product had increased by an average 7%/year since 1979, and that the government's aim is to have GDP growing by 10%/year by 2000.

"Petroleum and gas are important to the Ivory Coast's strategic aim to become the 'Elephant of Africa' within one generation," said Duncan.

Duncan said the government's intention is to establish Abidjan as the main petroleum products hub for many African countries that currently import refined products from Europe.

With a view to this, he said Petroci plans to boost its refining capacity and storage and import facilities, along with making progress on pipeline negotiations.

"The refinery is ever-growing," said Duncan, "but we intend to build up our infrastructure in a gradual way. We intend to put a regional framework in place to enable the regulation and specification of petroleum products."

Duncan added that the Ivory Coast has an exceptional location at the center of the Gulf of Guinea coastal states, and that Abidjan is the best gateway to the 200 million-plus potential consumers in the countries of the North and West African region.

Gilbert Yougoubar?, director general of Petroci, said that, while the Ivory Coast is currently a modest oil producer, it is promoting developments to utilize its gas production.

Yougoubar? noted that one company built a cocoa butter plant that uses gas produced off the Ivory Coast, while Ocean Energy is exporting liquefied petroleum gas, and the government plans to launch a petrochemicals industry in two industrial areas in Abidjan.

Petroci intends to increase the capacity of its Abidjan refinery from the current 70,000 b/d. Capacity will first be boosted to 90,000 b/d in the near term, and then to 180,000 b/d within 10 years.