Italian oil and gas major Eni SpA is preparing to drill Mozambique’s first offshore exploration well in about eight years, according to the southeast African country’s regulator.
The vessel West Capella has already started initial drilling on the Raia-1 well which will explore what could be a new oil and gas basin off the coast of Mozambique. The target is near Angoche, about 375 miles (604 kilometers) south of the Rovuma basin, where the Rome-based company began producing liquefied natural gas last year.
Although it is unknown whether Eni will find economic oil and gas deposits in Angoche, the drilling could be the start of a new round of investments in Mozambique’s hydrocarbon industry. In 2018, the company signed the exploration contract with the authorities for Area A5-A, which fell in the fifth round of auctions of hydrocarbon blocks in Mozambique. Eni declined to comment.
Anadarko Petroleum Corp. completed the last exploration well offshore Mozambique in mid-2015, the Instituto Nacional de Petroleo, the country’s oil and gas regulator, said by email on Monday.
TotalEnergies SE bought Anadarko’s stake in this development for $3.9 billion in 2019. The $20 billion LNG export project resulting from this exploration has been stalled for more than two years due to a insurgency linked to the Islamic State in the region.
