Mitsubishi acquires stake in Anadarko exploration block off Ivory Coast

Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) has agreed to acquire a 20% ownership interest in Block CI-103 Hydrocarbon Production Sharing Contract from US-based Anadarko Petroleum Corporation.

Block CI-103, which is located off the coast of Côte d’Ivoire, is currently in appraisal. The transfer of the interests will be finalized once the government of Côte d’Ivoire issues the required approvals.

Block CI-103 is located about 50 kilometers off the coast of Côte d’Ivoire, at a water depth of 2,000 meters. Anadarko, Tullow Oil Plc. and PETROCI (Côte d’Ivoire’s national oil company), who are the interest holders in the block, have received approval to proceed with appraisal operations, having confirmed oil and gas deposits at an exploratory well they drilled in 2012. Further evaluation works for deposits, including conducting shallow hazard surveys and drilling additional appraisal wells, will proceed with MC as a new entrant under the ownership structure outlined below, while the parties work towards reaching a final investment decision.

Ever since the discovery of oil and gas deposits off the coast of neighboring Ghana several years ago, Côte d’Ivoire and the Western Coast of Africa, have also been attracting much international attention as an area for oil and gas wealth. MC enters the scene in partnership with Anadarko, a global leader in deep-water exploration and development, and will draw on MC’s expertise which has been accumulated through the projects in Western Coast of Africa, Gabon and Angola, over many years. This is the first time that a Japanese company is undertaking an oil and gas project in Côte d’Ivoire.

Press Release, September 12, 2014; Image: Mitsubishi Corporation