ABIDJAN, Aug 2 (Reuters) – Ivory Coast’s council of ministers on Thursday approved the signing of production-sharing agreements with Eni relating to four oil blocks.

Under the deal, a minimum of $80 million will be invested in blocks CI-504, CI-526, CI-706 and CI-708 over an initial three-year exploration period, the council said in a statement.

Eni did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The world’s top cocoa-producing nation is hoping to become a major regional oil and gas producer and energy hub and expects oil output to more than triple by 2027, boosted by recent oil and gas discoveries.

Eni, whose presence in the African country dates back to the 1960s with its subsidiary Agip Côte d’Ivoire, started oil production last year at Ivory Coast’s Baleine field, which has estimated reserves of 2.5 billion barrels of oil and 3.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

(Reporting by Ange Aboa; additional reporting by Sofia Christensen in Dakar; writing by Alessandra Prentice; editing by Jason Neely)