A large oil field has been discovered on the Côte d'Ivoire shelf in the waters of the Gulf of Guinea, the Ecofin business news agency reported.
The field's reserves are estimated at 1.5-2 billion barrels of oil and up to 2.4 trillion cubic feet (about 67 billion cubic meters) of natural gas.
The oil was discovered in a 7 km deep well. The exploration was carried out by the Italian energy company Eni together with the Ivorian company Petroci.
In 2021, these companies discovered the first major oil and gas field, Baleine, off the coast of Côte d'Ivoire. Its first phase came on stream last year and is now producing 22,000 barrels of oil per day.
Baleine's reserves are estimated at 2.5 billion barrels of oil and 3.3 trillion cubic feet (about 93 billion cubic meters) of gas. It required an investment of $10 billion.