UAE-based energy investment firm RAK Petroleum has increased its indirect stake in a Côte d’Ivoire offshore field with an investment of US$10.6mn
The company has raised its stake in Block C1-27 to 9.1 per cent following an acquisition by West African explorer Foxtrot International, in which RAK Petroleum holds 33.33 per cent stake. It also has a 42.8 per cent stake in the Norway-based oil and gas operator DNO.
Prior to the increase, RAK Petroleum held eight per cent of indirect stake in the offshore block.
Operator Foxtrot International and its joint venture partners had bought the shares in the block from Energie de Côte d’Ivoire, according to the company. Foxtrot International now holds a 27.5 per cent interest in the block.
Block C1-27 holds two largest gas fields in Côte d’Ivoire — Foxtrot and Mahi.
Foxtrot International said that it produces more than 70 per cent of the gas in Côte d’Ivoire from both the fields and was nearing completion of a four-year plan to develop two other discoveries — Marlin oil and gas field and Manta gas field. The first production from the Marlin field is expected in 2015.
Company officials said, “Development of the previously discovered Marlin oil and gas field and the nearby Manta gas field is on track following the successful installation last month of the jacket over the Marlin field, which is a part of a four-year and US$1bn expansion programme on Block CI-27.
“Once completed, the platform, the second production platform on the block, will support development of both fields and increase deliverability from Block CI-27 commencing in 2015.”
The first platform on Block CI-27, which has been in operation since 1999, currently processes a daily average of 4.1mn cu/m of gas and 1,000 barrels of oil and condensate from Foxtrot and Mahi fields in the West African country.
