Eni has made a light oil discovery estimated to contain about 1billion boe in place in the Minsala Marine exploration prospect in shallow waters offshore Congo.
The discovery, in the Marine XII Block, about 35km from shore and 12km from the recent Nené Marine discovery, was made in the Minsala Marine 1 well, drilled in 75m water depth to a total depth of 3700m.
Eni has already planned the appraisal plan of the discovery and has also started studies for the commercial development of the find, which is close to existing infrastructure.
"The well encountered a significant accumulation of light oil in the Lower Cretaceous age pre-salt sequence, passing through an hydrocarbon column of 420m," said Eni. The firm said preliminary estimates put the potential of the Minsala Marine discovery at about 1 billion boe in place, of which 80% oil.
Claudio Descalzi, Eni's CEO, said: "It has been over four years since Eni started exploring the shallow water pre-salt plays of West Africa, and this campaign continues to deliver great results. We have already discovered about 4billion boe in place, between Congo and Gabon.
"In Congo, this is the third discovery to be successfully drilled in the Marine XII permit pre-salt play following the Litchjendily and Nene Marine discoveries, which are both already under development. These discoveries are located in conventional waters near existing infrastructure and can therefore be brought into production in very competitive time to market and cost."
Eni is operator of Marine XII, with a 65% share stake.
Eni has been operating in Congo since 1968 and currently produces approximately 110,000 boe/d of equity production. The firm is involved in exploration and production projects in Angola, Congo, Ghana, Gabon, Mozambique, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya and Liberia. Eni currently produces around 450,000 boe/d in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Subscribe
