Eni said the Firenze floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, which is to be deployed in the Whale oil and gas field, has left Dubai for its destination in Ivorian waters.
The Italian energy company is partnering the Ivorian national oil and gas company PetroCi in the offshore oil and gas field, which extends over blocks CI-101 and CI-802.
According to Eni, the FPSO Firenze will enable production to start up from the Baleine field, the largest hydrocarbon discovery to date in Côte d'Ivoire.
The discovery is estimated to contain 2.5 billion barrels of oil and 3.3 trillion cubic feet of associated gas. It was made in July 2022 following the drilling of the Whale East 1X well in Block CI-802.
In September 2021, the Italian firm made an oil discovery in Block CI-101.
Eni said the Whale oil and gas field development would also be the first net zero emissions project in Africa in terms of scope 1 and 2.
Renamed Baleine on its arrival in Côte d'Ivoire, the FPSO Firenze has been refurbished and modernized to prepare it to handle up to 15,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) of oil and nearly 25 million cubic feet per day (Mcfd/d) of associated gas.
The Italian oil and gas company said: "Eni's phased development model and fast-track approach have proven effective, as the project is expected to start production less than 2 years after the Whale 1X well discovery and a year and a half after the FID.
"Eni is already making rapid progress on the second phase of the project planning to start production by December 2024 after taking the FID in December 2022."
The company has declared that all gas produced from the Whale field will be delivered onshore via a newly laid export pipeline.
The installation of the subsea production system and the well completion campaign are currently underway. These should help Eni to accelerate the start-up of production from the Whale oil and gas field by June 2023.
