By Brazil Stock Guide – Petrobras has signed production-sharing contracts for eight offshore exploration blocks in Côte d’Ivoire, taking a 90% operating stake in each area as the Brazilian oil major steps up its search for new reserves outside Brazil.
The agreements were signed on Thursday in Abidjan by Petrobras, through its wholly owned subsidiary Petrobras Netherlands B.V., the Ivorian government and state-owned oil company PETROCI Holding. PETROCI will hold the remaining 10% interest in the blocks.
No financial terms, minimum investment commitments or drilling schedule were disclosed. The deal gives Petrobras a sizeable operated position in a new West African frontier at a time when reserve replacement has moved higher on the company’s strategic agenda.
Petrobras has been rebuilding its international exploration portfolio after years in which its upstream expansion was concentrated overwhelmingly on Brazil’s prolific pre-salt fields. The company is now looking at geological provinces across the Atlantic that it believes share similarities with Brazilian sedimentary basins.
Chief Executive Magda Chambriard said the Côte d’Ivoire acreage sits in a region with strong exploration potential and geological characteristics comparable with basins where Petrobras has accumulated decades of offshore expertise.
From nine blocks to eight
The signing follows a process that began more than a year ago. In June 2025, Petrobras said Côte d’Ivoire’s government had approved its declaration of interest in nine offshore blocks, giving the Brazilian company exclusivity to negotiate the contracts. Thursday’s announcement covers eight blocks. Petrobras did not explain in the release what happened to the ninth area originally included in the negotiations.
The difference does not change the broader direction of the strategy: Petrobras is adding exploration acreage at a time when management is increasingly focused on finding the resources that could support production beyond the current wave of pre-salt developments.
Under its 2026-2030 business plan, Petrobras has earmarked $7.1 billion for exploration, including Brazil’s Equatorial Margin as well as international assets. The company has specifically highlighted opportunities in countries such as São Tomé and Príncipe and South Africa as part of that effort.
Petrobras expects oil production to peak at around 2.7 million barrels per day in 2028 under the current five-year plan, making the discovery and development of new resources increasingly important for sustaining output into the next decade.
The Côte d’Ivoire contracts are still an exploration bet rather than a near-term production story. There are no announced discoveries, development projects or cash flows attached to the new acreage. But with Petrobras operating all eight blocks and holding 90% of each, the agreements give the company control over how quickly — and how aggressively — it tests one of its newest international exploration frontiers.
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