Reuters: ExxonMobil in talks over Ivory Coast offshore blocks

Ivory Coast is working to wrap up Production Sharing Contracts for two offshore blocks with the U.S. oil company Exxon Mobil.

According to Reuters, the West African country’s energy ministry official said that the two PSCs for the blocks in the Gulf of Guinea are expected to be agreed upon in January 2015.

Ibrahima Diaby, director of hydrocarbons at the country’s energy ministry told Reuters: “A memorandum of understanding was signed for the two ultra-deep blocks and negotiations for the production sharing agreements are very advanced.”

The nation, a modest oil producer, is hoping to unlock and develop its offshore oil and gas reserves, in an aim to reduce its dependence on a single commodity, cocoa, and boost its oil production.

According to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) cocoa in 2012 accounted for 28.5 % of total exports

In Ivory Coast the state participates in the oil industry and supervises it through the state-owned company Petroci and its partly privately owned subsidiaries.  The country produces 38,560 barrels of oil per day, according to data from 2012.