Standard Chartered Bank has strengthened its position as the top M&A advisor for energy and infrastructure across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, closing 2025 with 11 completed transactions and adding a major West African oil-sector deal to its portfolio.
The bank served as sole financial advisor to Italian energy major Eni S.p.A. on the sale of a 10% stake in the Baleine offshore project in Côte d’Ivoire to SOCAR. The binding agreement, signed on January 22, 2026, is pending regulatory approval.
Discovered in 2021—two decades after Côte d’Ivoire’s last major offshore find—the Baleine field reached first oil in 2023 and currently produces more than 62,000 barrels of oil and 75 million cubic feet of gas per day. With Phase 3 under development, output is projected to climb to 150,000 barrels of oil and 200 million cubic feet of gas per day, securing Baleine as a key contributor to the country’s domestic energy supply.
Post-transaction, Eni retains operatorship with a 37.25% interest, while Vitol holds 30% and national oil company Petroci holds 22.75%. The deal marks the second ownership shift at Baleine within six months, following Vitol’s entry in September 2025.
For Standard Chartered, the advisory role demonstrates its strategic focus on complex, cross-border resource transactions linking emerging-market assets to global capital. Its activity in 2025 placed it at the top of the Mergermarket league table for energy, utilities, and oil and gas advisory in its operating regions.
SOCAR’s acquisition advances its push to grow upstream assets beyond the Caspian, building on several 2024 cooperation agreements with Eni covering energy security, exploration, emissions reduction, and biofuel development.
Beyond production benchmarks, Baleine stands out as Africa’s first net-zero upstream development, integrating gas utilisation, reduced flaring, and offset initiatives—factors that are increasingly shaping investor and development-finance decisions on the continent.
