Qatar Petroleum is a state-owned petroleum company of Qatar, with its headquarters situated in Doha. It is a company that operates all the activities of the oil and gas in Qatar, including exploration, production, refining, transport and storage.

The enterprise entered into a farm-in agreement with Total to acquire a  45% participating interest in blocks CI-705 and CI-706, located in the Ivorian-Tano basin, offshore the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire. The agreement is reported to be subject to the Ivorian Government’s customary approvals.

The two blocks are said to cover about 3,200 square kilometers, and present multi-target hydrocarbon prospects in water depths ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 meters, 35 kilometers from shore and about 100 kilometers from Foxtrot, Espoir and Baobab fields.

Speaking on the agreement, the Minister of Energy in Qatar, His Excellency Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, said, “The acquisition of working interests in these two blocks marks an important addition to QP’s upstream portfolio in Africa, and represents the first investment for QP in Côte d’Ivoire. Africa’s offshore is a key target area for QP’s international growth strategy.”

He concluded by saying, “We are pleased to enter into this promising exploration opportunity with our long-term partner, Total, an experienced operator with historical presence in Côte d’Ivoire. We would like to thank the Ivorian authorities, and our partners in these blocks for their support.”

Total was awarded the CI-705 and CI-706 areas in June 2019, with an initial period of three years.

This is not the first time that Qatar Petroleum will be signing an agreement with an African country subject to the government of the country’s customary approvals. In August 2019, French multinational integrated oil and gas company Total confirmed signing deals over transferring some of its assets in Kenya and Namibia to Qatar Petroleum. With the deals, QP will hold a 30% interest in Block 2913B and 28.33% in Block 2912 of Namibia, and 25% interest in Blocks L11A, L11B and L12 of Kenya. It also has two joint ventures with South African Sasol (Orix GTL)