U.S. oil firm strikes crude in one of Africa’s fastest-rising oil frontier

U.S.-based Murphy Oil has made a fresh offshore oil discovery in Côte d’Ivoire, adding momentum to the West African nation’s push to become one of the continent’s leading hydrocarbon producers by 2035.

• U.S. oil producer Murphy Oil has struck high-quality light crude offshore Côte d’Ivoire, marking the first successful discovery in its three-well drilling campaign this year.
• The Bubale-1X well encountered about 30 metres of net oil pay and will move into appraisal as the company assesses its commercial potential.
• The discovery adds to a string of major offshore finds that are transforming the West African nation into one of Africa’s most attractive oil investment destinations.
• With global explorers expanding their presence, Côte d’Ivoire is targeting oil production of 500,000 barrels per day by 2035, up from roughly 60,000 barrels today.

The company said its Bubale-1X exploration well in Block CI-709 encountered 100 feet, or about 30 metres, of net oil pay across two reservoirs. Early assessment indicates the presence of high-quality light crude.

The well was drilled about 40 miles offshore Côte d’Ivoire to a total depth of 20,548 feet, in water depths of 7,795 feet. It was operated by Murphy CI-709 Oil Co., a subsidiary of Murphy Oil, which holds a 90% working interest in the block. State-owned PETROCI holds the remaining 10%.

The discovery is significant because it comes after two earlier wells in Murphy’s current Côte d’Ivoire drilling campaign failed to deliver commercial success.

In January, the company drilled the Civette-1X well on Block CI-502, which confirmed the presence of oil and gas but did not meet the economic threshold for development.

It later drilled the Caracal-1X well on Block CI-102, which also found hydrocarbons but was not considered commercial.

Those results, however, helped Murphy refine its understanding of the basin and confirmed the presence of an active petroleum system. Bubale-1X now provides the company with its first successful discovery from the campaign.

“Early results at Bubale reinforce the prospectivity of our Côte d’Ivoire acreage. We are pleased with the results to date, which underscore the value of a disciplined and consistent exploration approach. Our immediate focus now is advancing evaluation plans to define the discovery’s full potential,” Eric Hambly, Murphy Oil’s president and chief executive, said.

Murphy said it plans to drill an appraisal well in the second half of 2026 to determine the size, quality and commercial potential of the discovery.

The find comes at a time when Côte d’Ivoire is drawing renewed attention from global oil companies. Once better known globally for cocoa, the country is now trying to position itself as a major oil and gas producer in West Africa.

Its upstream sector has gained momentum since Eni’s Baleine discovery in 2021, the largest hydrocarbon discovery in the country’s history. Eni has since followed that with the Calao discovery, further strengthening investor interest in the country’s offshore basin.

Côte d’Ivoire expects oil production to rise from about 60,000 barrels per day to around 200,000 barrels per day by 2027, supported by developments such as Baleine and Calao.

By 2035, the government is targeting 500,000 barrels of crude oil per day and more than one billion cubic feet of natural gas per day.

That ambition would place the country among Africa’s top oil producers and deepen its role as an energy hub in Francophone West Africa.

Other international companies are also moving into the country’s offshore sector. VAALCO Energy, CNR International and Petrobras have all been linked to new or expanded exploration activity, underscoring the growing competition for acreage in the basin.

For Murphy Oil, Bubale-1X is an important step in its reserve replacement strategy and its wider multi-basin portfolio, which includes assets in the United States, Canada and Vietnam.

For Côte d’Ivoire, the discovery is another sign that its offshore oil story is gaining traction beyond Eni’s major projects.

If appraisal work confirms commercial volumes, Bubale could add to a growing pipeline of discoveries that may help the country move from being a modest producer to one of Africa’s most watched oil growth markets.