Eni has awarded Saipem a $260 million drilling contract for the Baleine field development offshore Côte d'Ivoire, confirming continued capital commitment to one of West Africa's most significant recent deepwater discoveries. The contract covers drilling operations at Baleine, the field Eni operates in partnership with national oil company PETROCI. No further breakdown of the contract scope — such as the number of wells, drilling duration, or specific rig specification — was provided in the source material.
Baleine has been central to Côte d'Ivoire's ambitions to establish itself as a meaningful oil and gas producer. Eni brought the field into first production in an accelerated timeline following discovery, and subsequent development phases have expanded the project's footprint. The award to Saipem, one of the largest European energy service contractors, signals that the development drilling programme is advancing into a new phase requiring significant contracted rig and well-services capacity.
For the broader West African offshore market, the Baleine contract is a concrete data point showing that operators are converting exploration success into multi-hundred-million-dollar service agreements. The $260 million figure places this award among the more substantial single drilling contracts currently active in the region, and Eni's selection of Saipem — rather than a local or smaller regional driller — reflects the technical complexity associated with the field. PETROCI's co-operator role means the Ivorian state retains direct visibility into execution standards and contractor performance throughout the campaign.
The contract as reported is a signed agreement between Eni and Saipem. It does not represent an FID for a new project phase, but rather the procurement execution of an already-sanctioned development programme. For service companies tracking the Baleine story, this award confirms that primary drilling services have been placed, and attention should now turn to the second- and third-tier services and equipment categories that typically follow a major drilling contract: well completion, subsea tie-back works, integrity and inspection services, and logistics support. Those procurement windows are likely to open progressively as the drilling campaign advances.