ENI NEWS

BP Plc and Eni SpA are considering merging their Angolan oil, gas, and liquefied natural gas assets into a joint venture in a bid to revive output following years of decline. The companies’ Angolan assets together produce more than 200,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day, BP and Eni said in a statement on Wednesday. Merging them would bring “significant opportunities” to “boost future developments” and increase investment in the basin, they said.

Fugro has been awarded multiple contracts by Eni Angola to carry out geotechnical and environmental surveys off the coast of Angola. Two Fugro vessels from their world’s largest fleet of specialist geotechnical and geophysical vessels are currently active in the region. Multipurpose survey vessel the Fugro Scout, specifically designed for seabed sampling and in situ testing in water depths up to 3000 m, has embarked on a deepwater environmental survey to acquire, analyse and interpret sediment and water samples from Eni Angola’s Agogo field development.

French oil company Total, along with its partners BP and ENI, it had made a gas discovery at a well off the coast of Egypt. The discovery had been made at the Bashrush well on the North El Hammad licence, located eleven kilometres (6.8 miles) off the Egyptian coast. ENI and BP both have 37.5% stakes in the North El Hammad licence, while Total has a 25% stake.

Drilling services provider, Valaris has landed new contracts and extensions for its drilling rigs, with approximately $285m in associated revenue backlog. The drillship Valaris DS-18 (Relentless) has been granted contract extension with EnVen in the US Gulf of Mexico. Valaris also landed contracts and extensions for DS-15, JU-292, JU-290, JU-249, JU-144, and others.

Oil major ADNOC is planning to partner with Eni and OMV to diversify its refining capacity. The company wants to take the refining capacity to 1.5 million barrels per day. The energy company has decided to double its refining capacity and triple petrochemicals output potential by 2025. In January, OMV and Eni decided to pay a combined $5.8 billion in order to buy stakes in refining business of ADNOC.

Oil supermajor Exxon Mobil has reached an agreement with Var Energi to farm out its Norwegian oil and gas assets in a $4.5 billion deal. The deal will bring an end to Exxon’s upstream operations in Norway, where it has been present for more than a century. The $4.5 billion deal is part of Exxon’s divestment strategy to let go of $15 billion worth of nonstrategic assets by 2021.

BP has informed about first gas from Baltim field two months ahead of schedule. The firm has achieved an initial production rate of around 100 mmscfd. The production rate is expected to increase and reach 500 mmscfd before mid-2020. The production will be divided amongst BP, Eni (contractor), and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation. BSW was discovered in May 2016 and is said to have the potential of 610 BCF.

Indonesian Deputy Energy Minister yesterday informed about awarding the West Ganal oil and gas exploration block to a consortium led by Eni. The consortium, which also consists of Pertamina and Neptune Energy, has fixed a commitment of $159.3 million investment for the next three years. The Indonesian government received a signature bonus of $30.1 million through the deal.

Oil Ministry of Iraq is in conversation with energy giant ExxonMobil. Both the parties are discussing over a deal to enhance Iraq's southern oil infrastructure. Iraq has also made it clear that its deal with BP and Eni was for the construction of two seabed oil pipelines for its southern exports through the Gulf. And also, it was not a part of the $53 billion 30-year southern mega-project.

As announced in January, ADNOC and Eni have now closed their strategic partnership. After this, Eni acquired a 20% interest in ADNOC refining. OMV is also a partner of this new venture. Eni and OMV will help ADNOC to manage its international product flows and streamline its systems. "With this transaction, Eni enters the UAE downstream sector and increases its global refining capacity by 35 per cent", said Eni.

Norway's Eni (70%) and its partner Vitol (30%) has been awarded rights to Block WB03. The block is located in the prolific Tano basin, offshore Ghana. Apart from Vitol, the joint venture will have the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and a local registered Company. Eni will be the operator of the license. This license will help Eni strengthen its presence in the country.

Total and Eni have been awarded two new offshore oil and gas blocks each by Ivory Coast. This is an initiative by the world's top cocoa producer to develop its oil sector. "The government adopted a communication regarding talks on four contracts to share production with companies Total and ENI", said the company's government spokesman. Total will invest $90 million while Eni will invest $95 million during the exploration period.

Italian oil major, Eni has informed about discovering oil offshore Angola. Eni discovered hydrocarbons while drilling on the Ndungu-1 new field wildcat (NFW) well. The discovery is estimated to contain up to 250 million barrels of light oil. Eni operates Block 15/06 with an interest of 36.8421%, with partners Sonangol (36.8421%) and SSI Fifteen (26.3158%).

A lawsuit which was filed in 2016 by Nigeria, accused many companies of exporting a total of 57 million barrels of crude oil to the United States between 2011 and 2014. The names of the companies also included Eni and Petrobras. However, on Wednesday the Nigerian court ruled out all the claims of the involvement of the subsidiaries of Eni and Petrobras for illegally exporting crude oil to the US.

Senior executives at Shell and Eni are now facing additional corruption allegations over a Nigerian oil deal. In a London lawsuit hearing, Nigerian government asserted about the involvement of executives, including CEOs, into over $1 billion in bribery payments. The years-long dispute over exploration rights to OPL 245 has made it to courtrooms all across Europe. Nigeria has separately prosecuted JP Morgan Chase for transferring payments for the deal.

The acquisition of one of the biggest oil fields in the West African country in 2011 has now been surrounded by controversy. A court in Nigeria has ordered the arrest of two former ministers and others allegedly connected with the deal's illegal payments. Parties to the transaction, Shell and Eni are accused of settling the dispute over the oil field in an unlawful manner.

Eni SpA and PTT Exploration and Production Pcl have received rights for the exploration of oil and natural gas in Abu Dhabi. The energy majors have committed to invest at least $230 million to assess the offshore blocks. Once the production phase is reached, ADNOC will have the option to retain 60% of the fields. ADNOC’s CEO said “We are engaging with partners who actually put skin in the game”.

Italian oil major, Eni has reached an agreement with Caelus Natural Resources Alaska LLC to acquire 70% stakes in Alaska’s Oooguruk oil field. Eni already has 30% stakes in the field, and will now gain complete ownership and operatorship of the field. With the acquisition of Oooguruk, Eni’s production from Alaska will be boosted by approximately 7,000 bopd gross.