OREANDA-NEWS. The discovery was made through the well Nene' Marine 1, which has been drilled in 24 meters of water to a depth of 3,013 meters.

San Donato Milanese (MI), 1 August 2013 - Eni has made an important oil and gas discovery in the Nene' Marine exploration prospect located in the Marine XII Block offshore Congo approximately 17 kilometers from the shoreline. The company estimates the volume of the discovery proved with the 2 wells so far drilled at around 600 million barrels of oil and 700 Billion cubic feet of gas in place. The structure has considerable additional upside that will be evaluated with further delineation wells.

The discovery was made through the well Nene' Marine 1, which has been drilled in 24 meters of water to a depth of 3,013 meters. The well encountered a significant wet gas and light oil accumulation in the pre-saline clastic sequence of Lower Cretaceous age. Nene' Marine 2 well was drilled 2 kilometers away from the discovery well and confirmed the significant hydrocarbon accumulation and the continuity of the reservoir. During production tests both the wells flowed at a commercial rates oil at 37° API gravity.

Eni will continue the appraisal phase of the discovery while starting the studies for the commercial exploitation of this significant hydrocarbon accumulation with the partners of the Joint Venture.

Eni, through its owned subsidiary Eni Congo S.A., is the operator of Marine XII block with a 65% stake. Other partners are New Age with a 25% stake and state Company SNPC (Societe Nationale des Petroles du Congo) with 10% stake.

Eni has been present in Congo since 1968 and today has an equity production of 110,000 barrels of oil per day in the country. Eni has been present in Sub-Saharan Africa since the 1960s and currently participates in exploration and production projects in Angola, Congo, Ghana, Gabon, Mozambique, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Togo, Kenya and Liberia. Eni's current operated production in the region is approximately 450,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.