Côte d’Ivoire, Tano Basin

After more than 20 years of industry exploration in the country's deep waters with no commercial discoveries, Eni announced a major play-opening oil discovery in September 2021 over block CI-101, offshore Côte d’Ivoire. Preliminarily estimates indicated between 1.5 and 2.0 billion barrels of oil in place and between 1.8 and 2.4 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of associated gas.

In July 2022, ensuing results from its appraisal program increased volume estimates by around 25%. Hydrocarbons in place in the Baleine Field are now estimated at 2.5 billion barrels of oil and 3.3 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of associated gas. These estimates further increase confidence in the prospects in this once-ignored basin.

The discovery, drilled on the Baleine prospect, proved the presence of light oil (40° API) in two different stratigraphic levels of Santonian and Cenomanian / Albian age. The Baleine-1x well was drilled approximately 60 km off the coast, in about 1,200 m of water depth, and reached a total depth of 3,445 m.

Reveal reservoir potential with 3D broadband seismic

The Eastern Grand Bassam sub-basin can be considered the western continuation of the prolific Tano basin, offshore Cote d’Ivoire. Exploration has been traditionally focused within water depths of up to 500 m, with a number of important discoveries spread along the Ivorian margin. More recently, the latest discoveries in deep marine settings, such as Paon, Pelican, Rossignol, have switched attention to the more distal domains of the basin.

The Baleine discovery, a few kilometers East of the CGG 3D seismic coverage, represents the largest discovery offshore Africa in 2021 and one of the biggest worldwide for that year. CGG’s uniquely placed broadband data has unmatched potential to further unravel prospectivity in this basin. This discovery not only opens the door for a new play concept, but also sheds more light on key questions related to reservoir and source facies.

Highlights

Survey covering 4,400 square kilometers over open acreage, complementing 917 square kilometers of 3D seismic data close to major fields (Baleine, Paon, Jubilee, Enyenra), and recent discoveries and prospects (Baleine, Pelican, Rossignol, Autruche).
3D BroadSeis™ BroadSource™ delivers full-bandwidth broadband data for high-resolution imaging, targeting the Cretaceous reservoir intervals.