Russia’s Lukoil is to carry out further exploration in deepwater acreage offshore West Africa after signing a production-sharing agreement (PSA) for an Ivory Coast block.

The company signed the PSA for block CI-524 in the Gulf of Guinea, with its subsidiary Lukoil Overseas holding a 60% stake; partner PanAtlantic Energy (formerly Vanco Overseas Energy), 30%; and state-owned Petroci Holding, the remaining 10%. The block features water depths ranging from 800-1,500 m (2,625-4,921 ft).

Lukoil already holds a stake in adjacent deepwater block CI-401, where it and Vanco made the Independence-1X light oil discovery in December last year. That well was drilled in 1,689 m (5,542 ft) of water. They also drilled the Orca-1 well in the same block in 2010, which also showed signs of oil.

The Russian company and the former Vanco are also partners in the Cape Three Points Deep Water block offshore Ghana.