Italian oil firm Eni, with its partner PetroCi, has celebrated the sail away of the FPSO Firenze to the giant Baleine oil and gas field offshore Ivory Coast.

The FPSO Firenze, which sailed away from Dubai, will allow the production start-up of the Baleine field, Ivory Coast's largest hydrocarbon discovery.

According to Eni, the Baleine field, “Whale” in French, has an estimated oil in place of 2.5 billion barrels and 3.3 trillion cubic feet of associated gas. 

"The development of Baleine will also be Africa's first net-zero emission project (Scope 1 and 2)," Eni said.

The FPSO Firenze, to be renamed Baleine after arrival in Ivory Coast, has been refurbished and upgraded in order to allow it to treat up to 15,000 bbl/d of oil and around 25 Mcfd/d of associated gas. 

The entire gas production will be delivered onshore via a newly built export pipeline. 

Eni said Thursday, April 6, 2023 that the installation of the subsea production system and well completion campaign were underway and to ensure production start-up by June 2023.

"Eni's phased development model and fast track have proven to be effective, as the project is set to start production less than 2 years from the Baleine 1X discovery well and one and a half years after the FID. Eni is already progressing swiftly on the second phase of the project forecasting a start-up of production by December 2024 after having taken the FID in December 2022," Eni said.

The Baleine field extends over blocks CI-101 and CI-802. Eni also owns interests in four other blocks in the Ivorian deep water: CI-205, CI-501, CI-401, and CI-801, all with the same partner, PetroCi Holding.