VAALCO's Baobab drilling campaign in Côte d'Ivoire due to start in September 2026

VAALCO Energy (NYSE: EGY) said on August 6 that a drilling rig has been mobilized to the Baobab field offshore Côte d'Ivoire and that the drilling program is expected to start in September 2026.

The company calls it the Phase Five Drilling Program at Baobab, in Block CI-40, and expects it to provide "material production uplift in 2027". If it succeeds, more wells would add to output from a field that only recently came back online.

Why Baobab matters now

Baobab's floating production vessel returned to Côte d'Ivoire after a refurbishment that ended in February 2026. It was reconnected to field infrastructure in early April, and production resumed from all producing wells in June. VAALCO's first crude oil lifting from the field was scheduled for August 2026.

The company expects third-quarter production of 19,600 to 21,600 net revenue interest barrels of oil per day, about 23% above the second quarter at the midpoint, including a full quarter from Côte d'Ivoire. In the second quarter it produced 16,688 net barrels of oil equivalent per day.

What else the company holds

VAALCO's other assets include the Etame Marin permit in Gabon, where it holds a 57.2% interest. The company's last stated oil reserve estimate for Etame Marin is 17 million barrels (P50, dated August 2022). Two prospects, SE Etame 4H and SE Etame 4P, each carry a P50 prospective estimate of 1.5 million barrels at the same interest. These figures are several years old.

In Côte d'Ivoire, VAALCO operates Kossipo with a 60% working interest and CI-705 with 70%. It also holds 60% of an undeveloped part of Block P in Equatorial Guinea.

Financial backdrop

For the quarter ended June 30, VAALCO reported revenue of $135.2 million and net income of $42.4 million. It spent $103.6 million on capital projects, including materials and services for the Côte d'Ivoire campaign. Full-year 2026 capital guidance was left unchanged.

What remains uncertain

The company has given only a month for the start, not a specific date, and has not said how many wells the campaign includes, their cost or the expected production from each. Baobab has already had a year-long outage, and a restart was needed before drilling could proceed. Any drilling delay would push back the 2027 uplift the company is targeting.

VAALCO also said it plans a decision by year-end 2026 on whether to enter the second exploration phase at CI-705.