Eni finds 300 million barrels offshore

Italy’s Eni reported that it has made a new oil discovery at the Ochigufu exploration prospect, located in deep water off Angola.

Ochigufu is the 10th commercial oil discovery in the country’s Block 15/06 and is estimated to contain 300 million barrels in place.

Eni also reported that the Ochigufu 1 NFW well, which led to the discovery, will be brought into production “in record time”. The well, located approximately 90 miles off the coast of Angola.

Ochigufu 1 NFW was directionally drilled in order to reach its targets in optimal position. It proved a net oil pay of 154 feet, with 34-degree API gravity, contained in the Lower Miocene and Oligocene sandstones with “very good” petrophysical properties. The data acquired in Ochigufu 1 well indicates a production capacity equal to more than 5,000 barrels of oil per day, Eni said.

Claudio Descalzi, Eni CEO commented in a company statement said “this important discovery, which will be brought into production in record time, adds even more value to Block 15/06. Like the recent discoveries in Congo and Gabon, this new find exemplifies the results we can achieve by applying leading edge technologies to exploration, and substantiates the decision to refocus Eni on key oil and gas competences.”

Eni added that studies are underway in order to evaluate an early tie-in of the field to the Ngoma floating production, storage and offloading unit, which is already on location at the West Hub project and is designed to handle 100,000 barrels of oil per day.

Eni is the operator of Block 15/06, with a 35-percent stake. Other partners include Sonangol P&P (30 percent), SSI Fifteen Limited (25 percent), Falcon Oil Holding Angola (5 percent) and Statoil Angola Block 15/06 (5 percent).