Eni Starts Drilling Activities off Ghana with Seventh-Gen Drillship
May 30, 2025
Eni Ghana, a subsidiary of Italy’s Eni, has marked the start of drilling activities offshore Ghana with the arrival of Deep Value Driller (DVD) drillship, following completion of activities in Côte d'Ivoire.
Eni Ghana, together with its Offshore Cape Three Points (OCTP) partners Vitol Upstream Ghana (Vitol) and Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), has kicked off the Sankofa East 1X Side Track 2.
Drilling operations will be conducted around 60 nautical miles off Ghana’s coast, in close proximity to the John Agyekum Kufour floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit, as part of the broader Sankofa field’s development plan.
The DVD drillship, for which Saipem firmed up the charter deal in April 2025, is conducting the drilling operations.
Equipped with advanced automated technology, the rig ranks among the most advanced in the world in terms of operational performance and safety.
Ahead of the campaign, Eni and its OCTP partners, Vitol and GNPC, have carried out comprehensive stakeholder engagement programs along Ghana’s coastline to ensure open communication and promote collaboration with communities.
The activity, involving more than 800 fishermen and local leaders, has been conducted in collaboration with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Petroleum Commission (PC), Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA), Ghana Navy, Fisheries Commission, and the Ghana National Canoe Fishermen Council (GNCFC).
Eni has been present in Ghana since 2009 with offshore hydrocarbon exploration and production activities, with an equity production of about 34,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
The company is the operator of the OCTP project with a 44.4% share, in partnership with Vitol (35.6%) and Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (20%).
