The President of Angola João Gonçalves Lourenço meets Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi

The President of the Republic of Angola, H.E. João Gonçalves Lourenço and the CEO of Eni Claudio Descalzi met today in Luanda. The meeting took place in the presence of the Minister for Mineral Resources and Oil, H.E. Diamantino Azevedo, and was on the occasion of discussing Eni’s operational activities and initiatives in Angola to enhance access to energy and socio-economic development.

In February 2017, Eni commenced production 5 months ahead of schedule from the East Hub Development Project in Block 15/06 (Eni 36,84%, Operator; Sonangol Pesquisa e Produção 36,84%; SSI Fifteen Limited 26,32%), in Angola’s deep offshore. The accelerated ramp-up, the reliability of the new East Hub facility and the excellent performance of the West Hub fields which already were in production, all contributed to achieving the plateau of 150,000 barrels of oil per day in a very short period of time.

Two other projects, Ochigufu and Vandumbu, are in the execution phase and will be launched in the first half of 2018 and in the second half of 2019 respectively. These projects, together with a new submarine pumping system that will be launched in the second half of 2018, will add 54,000 bod to current production levels.

Furthermore, exploration rights on Block 15/06 were extended until 2020, thereby permitting Eni to exploit the full near-field exploration potential in an extremely prolific basin. In the event of success, this strategy will enable a fast-track development of the reserves, leveraging on synergies with existing infrastructure and significantly reducing the time-to-market.

Eni is developing initiatives to monetize the gas resources already discovered in Angola in order to support the domestic market and power production, and is collaborating with Sonangol in the downstream sector to improve efficiency of the existing refineries and to support development of future plants.

Eni is also supporting the socio-economic development of communities in the Southern region, for the benefit of about 60,000 people. A number of projects have jointly been defined with the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources and the Ministry of Health, and include water well perforation, the installation of photovoltaic panels, activities in the agriculture, health and sanitation, and training. Finally, Eni also supports demining activities in the country.

Eni has been present in Angola since 1980 through its subsidiary Eni Angola. Equity production amounts to 155,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.