Page 13 - AfrOil Week 44 2021

AfrOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES AfrOil

However, Graham Lyon, the company’s exec- (SSRS), an affiliate of Schlumberger, one of the
utive chairman, said he was optimistic that the world’s largest oilfield service providers (OSPs).
parties would be able to strike a deal soon. The deal pushed the UK-based company’s
“Much work has been completed in the last holdings up from 47.5% to 75%. Subsequently,
months to conclude all conditions precedent to though, Sound Energy struck a deal with Afri-
the LNG SPA in London, Rabat and Pescara,” he quia Gaz that provided for the latter company to
said. “We are confident that all conditions prec- buy a stake in the former and to buy gas from the
edent to the LNG SPA will be satisfied and FID former over a period of 10 years.
and the ‘Notice to Proceed’ with Phase 1 devel- Sound Energy hopes these deals will com-
opment can be announced and all contracts plement its plans for the development of TE-5
executed.” Horst, a field within the Tendrara concession
The UK-based company obtained a major- that contains about 650bn cubic feet of gas in
ity stake in the Tendrara concession earlier this place (GIP). TE-5 Horst is expected to provide
year, when it acquired a 27.5% interest in the the feedstock for the micro-LNG plant that the
project from Schlumberger Silk Route Services firm wants to build in eastern Morocco. ™

Eni touts net-zero plan for Baleine

discovery offshore Cote d’Ivoire

COTE D’IVOIRE ENI is fast-tracking execution of Baleine, its
new discovery offshore Cote d’Ivoire, and talk-
ing up its plan for reducing the project’s carbon
footprint.
According to Claudio Descalzi, the CEO of
Eni, the company is “designing for the first time
an upstream project with net-zero operational
emissions since the beginning.” Speaking on
October 29, he described the net-zero plan for
Baleine, which will be used to deliver gas to the
Ivorian domestic market, as a pioneering indus-
try move.
The Italian major had previously committed
to full decarbonisation of all its products and
processes by 2050. Descalzi, who was announc-
ing Eni’s results for the third quarter and first
nine months of 2021, said the company was
accelerating its transition plan. “[The] listing of
our Retail & Renewables company will allow us
to generate further value from a unique busi-
ness model, which is essential for decarbonising
the consumption of our retail customers,” he Eni used the Saipem 10000 drillship to sink the Baleine-1x well (Photo: Saipem)
commented.
He was speaking a little more than a week Ivorian offshore zone since 2001, lies within a
after Eni’s CFO Francesco Gattei said during a licence area known as CI-101. Eni said in Sep-
conference call on earnings that Baleine, which tember that the prospect might hold around 1.5-
was discovered in September of this year, con- 2.0bn barrels of light crude oil in place (OIP) and
tained ample amounts of hydrocarbons. Prelim- 1.8-2.4 trillion cubic feet (50.97-67.96bn cubic
inary estimates put the field’s reserves at more metres) of gas in place (GIP). It also said that the
than 2bn barrels of oil equivalent (boe), he said. structure discovered in the Baleine-1x explora-
“The Baleine project is designed to target tion well appeared to extend into Block CI-802,
fast-track development to meet the domestic gas an adjacent licence area.
need, and it will be the first of them in Africa to Eni has 90% stakes in both Block CI-101 and
reach net-zero emissions, Scope 1 and 2,” Gattei Block CI-802, with the remaining 10% stakes
said. held by the national oil company (NOC) Petroci
He also pointed to Eni’s 90% working interest Holding. The Italian major has also teamed
in the site, calling Baleine “a potential candidate up with Petroci to explore three other blocks
for our dual exploration model.” located offshore Côte d’Ivoire – CI-205, CI-501,
Baleine, the first discovery made in the CI-504. ™

Week 44 03•November•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P13