Ivory Coast’s Minister of Mines, Petroleum, and Energy, Mamadou Sangafowa-Coulibaly, has outlined the country’s priorities for the petroleum sector in 2026, focusing on exploring new oil deposits, strengthening sector governance, and increasing production.
Presenting the 2026 national budget, he highlighted progress on key projects, including the scheduled completion of the Baleine (Phase 2) and Baobab (Phase 5) gas field development projects in 2026.
He also referenced an ongoing natural-gas-to-power project implemented in partnership with the World Bank and ENI, aimed at securing the country’s gas supply.
On electricity generation, the Minister outlined priority areas such as expanding installed capacity to over 3,415 MW, improving grid reliability, reducing outages, and completing more than 550,000 new connections to accelerate universal access to electricity by 2030.
Reviewing developments in the mining sector in 2024, Mr. Coulibaly noted that 41 new exploration permits were issued, while gold production increased to 59.1 tonnes.
However, manganese and nickel output declined due to unfavourable market conditions.
He reported that production commenced at the Baleine field (Phase 2), and national oil analysis laboratory capabilities were upgraded.
The Minister also highlighted ongoing challenges, including persistent illegal gold mining, and emphasized the work of the GSLOI task force in addressing the issue.
Electricity infrastructure development in 2024 included connecting 638 villages to the national grid, increasing generation capacity to 3,044 MW, and commissioning new infrastructure such as a solar technology resource centre.
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