The story of the FOXTROT International is primarily the story of the men and women who make up this group motivated to provide energy to businesses and to people for their development. It also echoes the ambition of a Group determined to harness the natural resources from areas in which it operates with the perspective of a long term commitment vis-à-vis its public and private partners.
In the 1980’s, the discovery of gas wells offshore Jacqueville, at a distance of approximately 90 kilometers to the southwest of Abidjan raised hopes for a promising energy production in Côte d’Ivoire. The FOXTROT field could supply the country in natural gas for twenty years at least. The Government decided therefore to turn to international companies to provide the capital investments needed to bring the field online.
In 1994, the production sharing contract relating to the CI-27 offshore block is signed between the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire and contracting companies regrouped into a joint venture. On August 4, 1999, the joint venture is granted an exclusive exploitation authorization. FOXTROT International then becomes the independent operator of the FOXTROT field and has maintained the operatorship ever since.
In 1997, the development plan adopted by the Joint-Venture is approved by the Government. It included the construction of a four-legged drilling and production platform, the drilling of two wells with a daily capacity of 40 millions cubic feet of natural gas, the construction of a 12 inch-gas pipeline and a 4 inch-oil pipeline connecting the platform to the power plants of Azito, Compagnie Ivoirienne de Production d’Electricité (CIPREL), Compagnie Ivoirienne d’Electricité (CIE), PETROCI and Société Ivoirienne de Raffinage (SIR).
The Decree published in August 1999 grants an Exclusive Exploitation Authorisation over Area F for 25 years, renewable for an additional 10 years in the event of justifiable commercial quantities. Producing natural gas then became legally effective.
In addition to the MANTA field discovered by Philips Petroleum in 1981, FOXTROT International pursued its exploration activities in Block CI-27 which led to the discovery of two additional gas fields: MAHI in 2005 and MARLIN in 2007.