Standard Chartered Bank has cemented its position as the leading mergers and acquisitions (M&A) advisor for energy and infrastructure transactions across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, closing out 2025 with 11 energy deals and adding a cross-continental oil stake transaction in West Africa as its latest credential.
The bank acted as sole financial advisor to Italian energy giant Eni S.p.A. on the sale of a 10 percent participating interest in the Baleine Project, located offshore Côte d’Ivoire, to the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR). The binding agreement was signed on 22 January 2026 and remains subject to regulatory approvals.
The Baleine field was discovered in 2021, two decades after Côte d’Ivoire’s last commercial offshore discovery, and achieved production in record time in 2023. It currently produces more than 62,000 barrels of oil and 75 million cubic feet of gas per day from its first two phases. With Phase 3 planned, production is expected to rise to 150,000 barrels of oil and 200 million cubic feet of gas per day, positioning Baleine as a cornerstone in meeting Côte d’Ivoire’s domestic energy needs.
Following the transaction, Eni will retain operatorship with a 37.25 percent stake, alongside Vitol at 30 percent and Côte d’Ivoire’s national oil company Petroci at 22.75 percent. The deal is the second major equity shift at Baleine in under six months, coming shortly after Vitol’s own entry into the project as a 30 percent partner in September 2025.
For Standard Chartered, the advisory mandate underscores the bank’s deliberate strategy of embedding itself in complex, cross-border resource transactions that connect emerging market assets with global capital. The bank’s 11 completed or announced energy and infrastructure deals across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East in 2025 placed it at the top of the Mergermarket league table for those regions in the utility, energy, and oil and gas sectors.
“This transaction highlights the role of strategic partnerships in portfolio management within the energy sector,” said Rajesh Singhi, Global Head of Clean Technology, Oil and Gas, and Chemicals M&A at Standard Chartered.
For SOCAR, the acquisition marks a further step in expanding its international upstream footprint beyond Azerbaijan and the Caspian region, building on three memoranda of understanding signed with Eni in 2024 covering energy security, upstream exploration, greenhouse gas emissions reduction, and biofuel production collaboration.
The Baleine field also carries continental significance beyond its production numbers. It is Africa’s first net-zero emissions upstream development, incorporating gas utilisation, reduced flaring, and offset measures — a distinction that is increasingly influencing how international investors and development finance institutions evaluate African energy assets.
