Côte d'Ivoire
Saipem awarded expanded Baleine drilling contract as TechnipFMC secures Phase 3 subsea scope
Italian contractor Saipem was awarded a new offshore drilling contract by Eni for the expanded Baleine project offshore Côte d'Ivoire, adding to a rapidly growing services pipeline around the largest hydrocarbon discovery in the country's history. The award follows TechnipFMC's Baleine Phase 3 contract to design and manufacture flexible flowlines and risers connecting wells at approximately 1,200 metres water depth to a new floating production unit, with Chinese contractor Wison New Energies building the FPSO. Baleine has moved from discovery to phased production faster than almost any comparable West African development, and Phase 3 represents a further capacity expansion rather than a greenfield restart. For the West African services market, the concentration of major subsea awards — Baleine, Greater PAJ offshore Angola, and Coral Norte offshore Mozambique — within a compressed window is straining contractor capacity and lengthening delivery schedules across the region.
