New Discovery in Algeria and Four New Licenses in Libya
North Africa is not a far away territory for the Italian oil company Eni and October 2005 began with good news in both Algeria and Libya. Like all other oil and gas companies, Eni is benefiting from a very lucrative environment as crude oil and gas prices reached their highest levels ever.
Just for the first half of this year, the company's operating profit exceeded the euro 8 billion with a net profit of more than euro 4.3 billion euros. These unprecedented results meant that operating profit rose by 40.1% year on year, while net profit was up by a strong 29.1%.
The Italian company has been active on the international scene in the areas of exploration. Among its latest achievements were the successful drilling of a test well in Algeria and the winning of four licenses in Libya. In Algeria, Eni has concluded drilling and tests of the explorative well "ROM 6" with positive results. The well is located in the Berkine basin, 200 km South-East of Hassi Messaoud.
The ROM 6 well has been drilled to a 3,596-meter total depth and production tests on different mineralized levels show an overall capacity of more than 5,000 barrels of oil per day, whilst confirming the great potential of the Northern area of the field.
The well is located in the ROM license (Eni 100%). Drilling activities and tests have been carried out in partnership with the Algerian state oil company Sonatrach through the jointly owned company Groupement Sonatrach-Agip.
Eni's first Exploration & Production activities in Algeria started in 1981. Current Eni equity production of oil and gas in the Country is some 90,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed).
In neighboring Libya, Eni has won four exploration permits there following an international tender made by the Libyan Government. The exploration permits cover an overall area of 17,876 km and are located in the Murzuk and Kufra southern basins, in the southern part of the Country. As a result of the permits acquired in Murzuk, Eni has strengthened its position in a high potential region where the El Feel giant field has already been producing.
The area awarded in the Kufra basin represents an important commitment in an equally high potential territory in the Southeastern part of the Libyan desert. The exploration activity of Eni includes 6 new exploration wells and 7,500 km of seismic surveys.
Eni has been awarded the greatest number of permits as an operator in a tender, which received applications from over 50 foreign companies. The Italian company has been present in Libya for approximately 50 years and it has recently completed 2 major projects in the country on time and within budget. These are the development of the oil field of El Feel in the Murzuk, which will reach a production of 150,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day and the Western Libyan Gas Project, which will allow a production of 10 billion cubic meters of gas per year, 8 billion of which is to be exported to Italy through the trans-Mediterranean Greenstream pipeline. In Libya, Eni equity production is about 190,000 boe per day.
© The North Africa Journal 2005
