UAE’s RAK Petroleum Ups Stake In Cote d’Ivoire Oil Field

UAE-based RAK Petroleum, an energy investment company, announced that it has invested up to $10.6 million to increase its indirect stake in an oilfield situated in Africa’s Cote d’Ivoire.

The company raised its stake in the oil field Block C1-27 to 9.1 per cent following an acquisition by Foxtrot International, a West African exploration firm in which RAK Petroleum is a shareholder.

Prior to the increase, RAK Petroleum previously held about eight per cent of indirect stake in Block C1-27.

Foxtrot and its joint venture partners bought the shares in the block from Energie de Cote d’Ivoire, a statement said. Post the deal, Foxtrot holds a 27.5 per cent interest in the block of which it is the operator.

RAK Petroleum, which is listed in the Oslo stock exchange, is a 33.33 per cent shareholder of Foxtrot International held through Mondoil Enterprises. It also has a 42.8 per cent stake in the Norway-based oil and gas operator DNO ASA that has operations across the MENA region and Iraqi Kurdistan.

Block C1-27 contains Foxtrot and Mahi, which are the two largest gas fields in Cote d’Ivoire.

Foxtrot International produces more than 70 per cent of the gas in Côte d’Ivoire from the Foxtrot and Mahi fields and is nearing completion of a four-year plan to develop two other discoveries, the Marlin oil and gas field and the Manta gas field.

The first production from the Marlin field is expected in 2015.

“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, part of a four-year, $1 billion, expansion programme on Block CI-27,” the company said.

“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 145 million cubic feet of gas and 1,000 barrels of oil and condensate from the Foxtrot and Mahi fields.