Saipem Joins Eni’s Baleine Phase 3 Delivery Crew off Ivory Coast
July 27, 2026
Saipem has won two contracts from Eni worth a combined $910 million (€800 million) for work on the Baleine Phase 3 offshore development in Ivory Coast and the expansion of biofuel production capacity at Enilive's Venice biorefinery in Italy.
The awards cover offshore engineering and installation work for the third phase of Baleine, the largest hydrocarbon discovery offshore Ivory Coast, as well as engineering, procurement and construction of a new deoxygenation unit that will increase production of hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) biofuel at the Porto Marghera refinery.
For the Baleine Phase 3 project, awarded by Eni Côte d'Ivoire and its partners, Saipem will engineer, fabricate, transport and install about 50 km of rigid pipelines and associated subsea infrastructure in water depths of up to 1,300 metres.
The scope also includes installation of flexible risers, jumpers, subsea production systems, a 3-km flexible gas export flowline and 22 km of subsea umbilicals. The project is expected to take about three years, using the FDS and Shen Da construction vessels.
Eni and its partners approved the final investment decision on Baleine Phase 3 in May. The development is expected to increase total field production to around 150,000 barrels of oil per day and 200 million cubic feet of gas per day, with all gas allocated to Ivory Coast's domestic market.
The project will also include a new floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel capable of producing 90,000 barrels of oil per day, processing 160 million cubic feet of gas per day and storing 1.4 million barrels of crude oil, to be supplied by Altera Infrastructure under a 15-year charter.
OneSubsea, a joint venture backed by SLB, Aker Solutions and Subsea7, has been tasked with delivering the complete subsea production system (SPS) for 13 wells, while TechnipFMC was selected to supply flexible flowlines and risers for the same development.
Eni operates Baleine with a 37.25% stake, with partners Vitol with 30%, Petroci with 22.75% and Azerbaijan’s state-owned company Socar with 10%.
