Norway’s oil and gas player DNO is exiting Côte d’Ivoire by divesting its business in the West African country to Panoro Energy, raking in an estimated 24% annualized return on its investment while handing its Norwegian peer a gas-weighted production base that will boost output by about 23% and deepen its presence in the region’s gas market.

DNO has disclosed the sale of DNO CI, the company through which the Norwegian player holds its interests in Côte d’Ivoire, including an indirect 9.09% interest in the high-quality gas-producing offshore Block CI-27. Panoro Energy is acquiring this business for a total consideration of $86.5 million, comprising $65.1 million in cash and the balance in 7,000,000 of its shares to be issued. The transaction is expected to be completed in mid-September 2026.

Since the acquisition of the Côte d’Ivoire business from RAK Petroleum in October 2022, DNO expanded its North Sea footprint, achieving an increase in its net oil and gas production to nearly 150,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boepd). As a result, the Côte d’Ivoire business is no longer among the key core assets in the firm’s portfolio.

The Norwegian player estimates an annualized return (IRR) of approximately 24% on its investment since entering the African country nearly four years ago. The production from the business is currently averaging some 3,300 boepd net to DNO. At the transaction effective date, net 2P reserves stood at 9.4 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) and net 2C contingent resources at 5 million boe.

Julien Balkany, Executive Chairman of Panoro, commented: “This high-quality acquisition represents a continuation of Panoro’s strongly accretive growth strategy and follows the transformational acquisition of an additional interest in Block G offshore Equatorial Guinea from Kosmos Energy which we announced in February and completed in June 2026.

“The addition of an indirect 9.09 per cent interest in Block CI-27 offshore Côte d’Ivoire brings material reserves and production to Panoro, while further diversifying our African portfolio both geographically and from a commodity perspective through long-life, gas-weighted production supported by stable, low-volatility pricing and sales arrangements that are de-linked from oil prices.”

According to Panoro, this acquisition accelerates its pathway to achieving group production of more than 20,000 boepd, increasing pro forma production by around 23% and 2P reserves by about 11%. The company explains that produced gas is sold into the local market for power generation, with liquids going to a local refinery. Gas pricing is de-linked from oil price and sold under long-term contracts, with the majority of gas used for power generation in Abidjan.

This is a new country entry for Panoro, which describes Côte d’Ivoire as an investor-friendly jurisdiction in West Africa with a thriving oil and gas industry that offers attractive follow-on growth opportunities. No regulatory approvals are pending or required, and there are no pre-emptive rights for the acquisition that is expected to complete this fall.

The firm intends to finance the purchase through a combination of equity, comprising the issuance of seven million new shares to DNO, and debt, entailing a fully placed $50 million senior unsecured bond issuance. This transaction has an effective date of January 1, 2025.

Balkany underlined: “Our new entry into Côte d’Ivoire, one of the fastest-growing economies in West Africa, is particularly attractive given the country’s strong private investment, structural economic diversification and expanding hydrocarbon sector, all of which provide long-term support for this strategic acquisition and follow-on growth opportunities in country as and when they arise.

“We look forward to establishing an excellent cooperation with the field partners including the operator Foxtrot International, the national oil company of Ivory Coast Petroci, Seci and also the Ministry of Mines, Petroleum and Energy. Importantly, this landmark acquisition is accretive for Panoro shareholders on all standard industry metrics and will further enhance our ambition to continue delivering long-term, sustainable shareholder returns.”

Block CI-27 is operated by Foxtrot International, whose principal business is a 27.27% effective participating interest in the asset, while DNO CI holds an indirect 33.33% interest in Foxtrot International that equals an indirect 9.09% interest in the block. Other joint-venture partners include Petroci and Seci.

Panoro highlights that this asset contains Côte d’Ivoire’s largest reserves of non-associated gas, which is produced, together with condensate and oil, at a low unit cost of just $6/boe from four offshore fields, encompassing Foxtrot, Mahi, Manta, and Marlin, tied back to two fixed platforms. The total processing capacity of the offshore facilities is 250 million scfd and 15,000 bopd.

The operator is currently undertaking a five-well infill drilling campaign aimed at boosting recovery from the Foxtrot field, sustaining the production plateau around the 190 to 200 million scfd level, with scope to increase to around 230 million scfd, depending on demand.