Ivory Coast to develop natural gas assets
(Reuters) Ivory Coast aims to roughly double gas output by 2020 as it pushes for foreign investment in offshore exploration, the head of state oil-and-gas company Petroci said on Wednesday.
While it has developed natural gas deposits for domestic consumption, French-speaking West Africa's largest economy has ignored its energy sector for decades as the government concentrated on developing agricultural exports.
Ivory Coast has also been expanding its existing gas production.
The country has one of West Africa's most reliable power grids, with few blackouts, allowing it to export electricity to its neighbors. But since 2012 an economic boom has seen demand balloon by around 10% annually, straining capacity.
Canadian Natural Resources and Ivory Coast's Foxtrot International raised daily natural gas production to 250 MMcf from 220 MMcf three years ago.
The country is also pushing forward with plans to begin importing LNG to supplement domestic supply to its gas-fired power plants.
Deals are still being finalized, but the first LNG shipments were expected to arrive in 2018.
Houston, Texas-based Endeavor Energy said in March that it was seeking to secure financing by the end of the year for a $900 million gas-fired power project in Ivory Coast that would be fueled by imported LNG.
Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly; Writing by Joe Bavier; Editing by Susan Fenton and Kyle Kornegay
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