Alassane Ouattara News

Eni will invest $10 billion in the development of the Baleine field offshore Ivory Coast, which will take place in three phases from 2023 to 2027, Energy Minister Mamadou Sangafowa Coulibaly said on Thursday.The Baleine field, where certified reserves are estimated at 2.5 billion barrels of oil and 3.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, was discovered in 2021 by the Italian energy group off the east coast of the West African country.The field's crude oil production should reach 200,000 barrels per day by 2027, compared with 30,000 barrels per day in 2023, the energy minister said."With a tota

Paramilitary gendarmes firing in the air sealed off access to Ivory Coast's main port on Wednesday, forcing companies including cocoa exporters to close down, as weeks of unrest in the security forces showed no signs of easing. President Alassane Ouattara, who is also facing a wave of public sector strikes, ordered his defence minister and military chiefs to hold urgent talks with members of the security forces about their grievances in a bid to quell the instability. Ivory Coast has emerged from a 2002-2011 political crisis and civil war as one of the world's fastest-growing economies but the violence, which began with an army mutiny nearly two weeks ago, has hit its image as a post-conflict success story.

The presidents of Ghana and Ivory Coast agreed on Monday to negotiate an amicable end to issues around their maritime dispute, former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, who will chair the negotiations, said on Monday. "We have a deal," Annan told Reuters. A source close to the talks later made clear Annan was referring to the fact that he had been able to get the two presidents - Ivory Coast's Alassane Ouattara and Ghana's John Dramani Mahama - to talk. "This is just a start of the process. They are asking Mr. Annan to help them find an amicable solution," the source said. The two presidents will not be discussing the delimitation of the border, the source said, since that is under the jurisdiction of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg.

The presidents of Ivory Coast and Ghana reached a deal on Monday in talks on a maritime border dispute that had frozen new oil drilling in a contested area, mediator Kofi Annan told Reuters. "We have a deal," the former U.N. secretary general told Reuters, as he wrapped up the talks in Geneva. He did not elaborate and officials did not immediately disclose the terms of the agreement. It appeared to have been reached quickly. Ivory Coast's presidency said President Alassane Ouattara had left Abidjan on Sunday for the discussions with his Ghanaian counterpart John Dramani Mahama. An international tribunal ruled last month that Ghana could continue developing a $4.9 billion offshore oil project in the area but imposed a ban on new drilling.

The presidents of Ivory Coast and Ghana held talks in Geneva on Monday on a maritime border dispute that has frozen new oil drilling in a contested area, a spokesman for mediator Kofi Annan said. An international tribunal ruled last month that Ghana could continue developing a $4.9 billion offshore oil project in the area but imposed a ban on new drilling. The decision by the Hamburg-based International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea was regarded as positive for Ghana and British oil firm Tullow, which leads a consortium developing the TEN field, where it has already drilled the wells it needs to start production. Ivory Coast's presidency said President Alassane Ouattara left Abidjan on Sunday for the talks with his Ghanaian counterpart John Dramani Mahama, mediated by former U.N.

Ivory Coast will seek investors in its available offshore oil acreage, including seven new ultra-deep water blocks in the Gulf of Guinea, at a promotional event in Texas next week, a senior oil ministry official said on Tuesday. The West African nation will target companies including Exxon Mobil, Total, Eni, Anadarko Petroleum, Tullow Oil and ConocoPhillips , the ministry's oil director Ibrahima Diaby said. Prime Minister Daniel Kablan Duncan and Oil and Energy Minister Adama Toungara will lead the government delegation at its promotional event in Houston on Oct. 14 and 15.

Ivory Coast received orders for a $750 million dollar bond of more than six times the issue size, one of the lead managers said on Wednesday. Ivory Coast launched the 10-year bond late on Wednesday at a yield of 5.625 percent, 3-1/2 years after civil war led it to default on restructured dollar debt. Nicholas Samara, at Citi, told Reuters in a telephone interview that orders totalled $4.75 billion. BNP Paribas and Deutsche were the other lead managers. Investors scrambling for yield have lapped up bonds from sub-Saharan African sovereigns in recent years, leading analysts to warn about the dangers of these borrowers accumulating too much debt.

Ivory Coast's port of San Pedro is seeking 777 billion CFA francs ($1.65 billion) from private partners to fund upgrades that aim to make it one of West Africa's top shipping hubs, including for iron ore and nickel, the transport minister said. San Pedro is already the world's leading port for cocoa exports, shipping more than half of total output from Ivory Coast, the top producer of the chocolate ingredient. It also exports coffee, palm oil, timber and cotton. But the government of President Alassane Ouattara wants to make the port the centrepiece of an ambitious plan that would see more than 8 trillion CFA francs invested in the development of the country's predominantly agricultural western regions.