Eni’s Baleine Phase 2 project offshore Côte d'Ivoire continues its march toward first production in December 2024.
Eni announced 24 July the refurbishments on the floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) Petrojarl Kong and the floating storage and offloading (FSO) Yamoussoukro vessel at the Drydocks World yard in Dubai are complete. The vessels have been christened and are preparing to set sail for the Ivory Coast. There, they will be anchored alongside the refurbished and upgraded Baleine FPSO, which started production in August 2023.
Altera’s Arne H. Tørnkvist, executive vice president for projects, said the FPSO and the FSO conversions were completed under a fast-track execution model about 14 months after the vessels arrived at the yard.
Previously, the FPSO Petrojarl Kong operated as the Voyageur Spirit on the Huntington field in the North Sea until 2020. The FSO Yamoussoukro was converted from the Altera shuttle tanker Nordic Brasilia. Altera Infrastructure owns and will operate both vessels under a 15-year firm contract.
Chris Brett, president for Altera Infrastructure Production, said, “Redeployments are some of the fastest, most cost-effective, and emissions-friendly ways for our customers to develop their projects in the current market.”
Baleine, Italian for whale, represents an extensive oil and associated gas field offshore Côte d'Ivoire. Eni is using a fast-track development model that relies on vessel refurbishments and upgrades to speed project delivery and runs the design, authorization, and execution phases in parallel.
Under Phase 1, the Baleine FPSO can handle 15,000 BOPD of oil plus associated gas. When Phase 2 begins production at the end of this year, total output from the field will increase to 60,000 BOPD plus associated gas.
A third phase, expected online in 2027, would drive production up to 150,000 BOPD of oil plus associated gas. Final investment decision on that phase is expected later this year, according to Eni’s 14 March 2024 Capital Markets Update.
The Baleine field straddles blocks CI-101, where the Baleine 1X discovery well is located, and CI-802, where the Baleine East 1X well is located, in water depths of about 1200 m.
Eni has stated its goal is for the Baleine field to be the first net-zero Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions development in Africa.
Eni operates the Baleine project with 83% interest on behalf of partner Petroci Holding.
