Italian major ENI, together with partners Petroci and Vitol, has approved the Final Investment Decision (FID) for Phase 3 of the Baleine field development offshore Côte d'Ivoire. The project is sanctioned to deliver a peak production rate of 183,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOEPD), marking a significant expansion of what has become one of West Africa's most actively developed upstream assets in recent years.
The FID represents the third sequential phase of development at Baleine, underscoring the partners' confidence in the field's resource base and their commitment to a staged, capital-disciplined development approach. ENI operates the project, with state oil company Petroci and trading house Vitol holding participating interests. The phased development model has allowed the consortium to progressively build production infrastructure while managing execution risk — a structure increasingly favoured by operators across the West African upstream landscape.
Côte d'Ivoire has positioned itself as a priority destination for upstream investment following the Baleine discovery, with the government moving to streamline approvals and support accelerated development timelines. The field has advanced through its phases at a pace that is notably faster than comparable deepwater projects elsewhere in the region, reflecting strong alignment between the operator and the host government. With Phase 3 now sanctioned, the project's peak output target of 183,000 BOEPD would represent a material contribution to Côte d'Ivoire's national production profile and export revenues.
For service and equipment providers, Phase 3 implies a further round of procurement, engineering, and construction activity layered on top of the infrastructure commitments already made in earlier phases. The scale of the peak production target — nearly doubling typical single-phase output ambitions seen elsewhere on the West African shelf — indicates that Phase 3 involves substantial additional subsurface and surface scope. Specific facility configurations, vessel requirements, and contract timelines have not been disclosed at this stage, but the FID confirmation signals that detailed engineering and vendor engagement processes are likely to advance in the near term.