ENI bets on infrastructure-led exploration to cut production costs

摘要

A ray of sunshine broke through weeks of gloom in Angola's oil industry on 6 April with ENI's announcement of a new light oil find on its offshore Block 15/06's Cuica prospect. ENI and Sonangol each have a 36.84% stake in the zone, with the rest held by third partner SSI Fifteen, the Angolan subsidiary of the state-owned company and China's Sinopec. The new find is estimated to hold between 200m and 300m barrels. ENI's decision to take a punt on Cuica wasn't random: the prospect lies in the immediate vicinity of the Armada Olombendo floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel. In an effort to limit its outgoings, the major resorted to infrastructure-led exploration (ILX), which entails drilling near existing facilities to create synergy. Any such discoveries can go into production within just a few months, compared to the years required in virgin zones.