February 18, 2026 [Oil Price]- Eni has made a major natural gas and condensate discovery offshore the Ivory Coast in Africa, in part of what is estimated to be the second largest discovery in the country after Baleine, the Italian energy major said on Monday.

Eni has focused on exploration offshore Africa in recent years as it looks to boost its natural gas resources and farm out minority shares to other companies and investors to fast-track the development of the discoveries.      

In the latest discovery offshore Côte d’Ivoire, also known as Ivory Coast, Eni made a significant gas and condensate discovery after successfully drilling Murene South-1X, the first exploration well in Block CI-501.

The discovery, named Calao South, confirms the potential of the Calao channel complex that includes also the Calao discovery. Calao is the second largest discovery in the country after Baleine, with estimated volumes of up to 5.0 Tcf of gas and 450 million barrels of condensate, or about 1.4 billion barrels of oil, Eni said.

The exploration well Murene South-1X is just southwest of the Murene-1X discovery well in the adjacent CI-205 block.  

Block CI-501 is operated by Eni with a 90% stake in partnership with Petroci Holding with 10%. 

Currently, the Eni-operated Baleine field produces more than 62,000 barrels of oil and more than 75 million cubic feet of gas per day from Phases 1 and 2. With the launch of Phase 3, production is expected to rise to 150,000 barrels of oil and 200 million cubic feet of gas per day, boosting Baleine’s role as a key asset in meeting Côte d’Ivoire’s domestic energy needs.

Eni has been active in Côte d’Ivoire since 2015 and has interests in ten exploration blocks offshore the African country. 

In recent months, Eni has sold 30% in the Baleine oil and gas project to the world’s biggest independent oil trader, Vitol, and a 10% stake to SOCAR, the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan.