Côte d'Ivoire: royalties and production sharing on crude oil

The Petroleum Code

The Petroleum Code was enacted by Law No. 96-669 of 29 August 1996. Ordinance No. 2012-369 of 18 April 2012 amended it ¹. The 2023 EITI report says the revised code offers more flexibility and aims to attract investment. It does not list the specific changes ¹.

The Code allows concessions, production sharing contracts and service contracts. The 2023 EITI report says no concession contract has been signed since the Code entered into force, and all active contracts are production sharing contracts ¹.

The EITI country page links to the text of the Petroleum Code hosted on the government site cepici.gouv.ci ². The 2023 EITI Standard requires member countries to disclose contracts and licences granted, entered into or amended from 1 January 2021 ³.

How production is shared

Under a production sharing contract the State keeps ownership of the resource and the production. The company recovers its exploration and development costs from a capped share of output, known as cost oil ¹. The EITI report says the cap gives the State a minimum revenue from the start of production ¹.

The output left after cost recovery, profit oil, is shared between the State and the company. The split can be fixed or can vary with output or project profitability ¹. The EITI says the three main streams of petroleum revenue are the State's share of profit oil, PETROCI's share of profit and cost oil, and signature bonuses ².

Taxes, royalties and fees

• Profit tax: 25% under the General Tax Code, with a minimum of 0.5% of turnover. Some contracts allow payment in kind through a share of production ¹.
• Royalty: concession contracts carry a production royalty and an additional petroleum levy. Royalty rates are set in each concession contract ¹.
• Bonuses: contracts can include a signature bonus and a production bonus ¹.
• Surface fee: companies pay an annual fee on the block area, on terms set in the contract ¹.
• Exemptions: the EITI cites Article 76 of the Petroleum Code as exempting companies from taxes and duties not provided for in the sector codes ².

Who collects

PETROCI, the state company, manages the State's interests in petroleum contracts and collects the State's share of in-kind revenue ^1,2. The Tax Department collects taxes and the Treasury manages allocation ². Some crude is exchanged for natural gas to supply power plants ².

In 2023 PETROCI exported 3,444,909 barrels for itself, the State and partners. Of that, 1,614,983 barrels were for the State, against a State production share of 1,900,944 barrels ¹. Crude from blocks CI-27 and CI-11 is refined locally by SIR ¹.

In its April 2023 Validation, the EITI found that revenue from PETROCI Holding bypasses the single treasury account. Uncollected revenue from sales of the State's share of production sits in PETROCI Holding's accounts as other receivables ².

2023 EITI figures

The Côte d'Ivoire 2023 EITI report was prepared by the national EITI secretariat. It says its data were not reconciled ¹. Of 50 blocks at the end of 2023, 6 were in production. Producing blocks were CI-11, CI-26, CI-27, CI-40, CI-101 and CI-802 ¹.