Eni makes new gas discovery offshore Egypt and oil find off Angola

Eni has announced a new gas discovery under evaluation in the Nour exploration prospect offshore Egypt. Eni is operator (40%) of the Nour North Sinai concession, in participation with Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS), partnered by BP (25%), Mubadala Petroleum (20%) and Tharwa Petroleum (15%).

Eni has also made a major oil discovery in block 15/06, in the Agogo exploration prospect, in Angola’s deep water. The new discovery is estimated to contain between 450 and 650mn barrels of light oil in place, with further upside. The Agogo-1 NFW well is located about 20 km west of the N’Goma FPSO and data suggests a production capacity of more than 20,000 b/d of oil. Agogo is the third discovery of commercial nature since the block 15/06 consortium launched a new exploration campaign in 2018, leading to the discoveries of Kalimba and Afoxé. ‘The discovery opens new opportunities for oil exploration below salt diapirs in the north-west part of the prolific block 15/06, creating opportunities for unlocking additional potential value,’ reports Eni. The block 15/06 joint venture, comprising Eni (operator, 36.8421% stake), Sonangol P&P (36.8421%) and SSI Fifteen (26.3158%), will now appraise the discovery and start studies to fast track development.

Eni has also signed a farm-out agreement giving Qatar Petroleum (QP) a 30% participating interest in the Tarfaya offshore shallow petroleum agreement, comprising 12 exploration blocks offshore Morocco (subject to agreement from the Moroccan authorities). Following the transaction, Eni will hold a 45% interest in the block, QP 30% and Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines 25%.

Earlier, Eni and QP signed an agreement giving the latter a 25.5% participating interest in block A5-A, offshore Mozambique. The two companies are also partners in Oman and Mexico.

For more on E&P in Mozambique, see Petroleum Review’s forthcoming April 2019 issue.