Côte d’Ivoire: Eni Sells 10% Stake In Baleine Project To SOCAR

Italian oil and gas major Eni has signed a binding agreement to sell a 10% stake in the Baleine offshore oil and gas project in Côte d’Ivoire to SOCAR, the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Eni announced the deal in a statement issued on Thursday, 22 January 2026.

Completion of the transaction remains subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

The transaction reduces Eni’s operating stake in the project to 37.25%, while its partner Vitol retains a 30% interest. Côte d’Ivoire’s state oil company, Petroci, will continue to hold the remaining 22.75% stake.

The deal aligns with Eni’s “dual exploration model,” under which the company accelerates the monetisation of major discoveries by selling minority stakes while retaining operatorship.

This approach has become a core pillar of Eni’s upstream strategy as it seeks to recycle capital, reduce risk exposure, and fund new developments.

The Baleine field is a landmark asset for both Eni and Côte d’Ivoire. Discovered in 2021—two decades after the country’s last commercial offshore find—the giant field moved from discovery to first production in just two years, an unusually rapid timeline for a deepwater African project.

Production began in 2023, making Baleine Eni’s first operated development in the country.

Baleine is also positioned as Africa’s first net-zero emissions upstream development, incorporating gas utilisation, reduced flaring, and offset measures.

The project currently produces more than 62,000 barrels of oil per day and over 75 million cubic feet of gas per day from its first two phases.

With Phase 3 planned, output is expected to rise sharply to around 150,000 barrels per day of oil and 200 million cubic feet per day of gas, significantly boosting domestic energy supply in Côte d’Ivoire and supporting power generation.

For SOCAR, the acquisition marks another step in expanding its international upstream footprint beyond Azerbaijan and the Caspian region.

The deal also builds on a broader cooperation framework between the two companies. In 2024, Eni and SOCAR signed three memoranda of understanding covering energy security, upstream exploration and production, greenhouse gas emissions reduction, and collaboration across the biofuels value chain.

The transaction underscores growing international interest in West African offshore resources, particularly large, gas-rich developments capable of supporting both export markets and domestic demand.

It also highlights the continued appeal of partial asset sales as a capital-management tool for majors, even as upstream investment becomes more selective amid energy transition pressures.