A production test conducted by Eni SPA on the Minsala Marine 1 NFW well offshore Congo (Brazzaville) flowed 5,000 b/d of 41° gravity oil and 14 MMscfd of gas from an opened section comprising 37 m out of the 420 m oil column identified in the discovery (OGJ Online, Oct. 30, 2014).
The well is well part of the Marine XII block, which lies 35 km from the shoreline and 12 km from the recent Nene Marine discovery (OGJ Online, Feb. 13, 2014).
Preliminarily estimates by Eni on the potential of Minsala Marine discovery total 1 billion boe in place, 80% of which is oil. The company has scheduled an appraisal plan for the discovery and begun studying the commercial development of its hydrocarbons reserves.
“The production test results [have] exceeded expectations and [enable] us to plan a fast commercial development of the important Minsala Marine find, similarly to what had been done at Nene’ Marine,” said Claudio Descalzi, Eni chief executive officer.
During the past 4 years, Eni has been carrying out a targeted exploration program in the presalt geological plays of West Africa’s shallow waters. Eni has already discovered 4 billion boe in place in the play between Congo and Gabon.
The Marine XII permit has been the site of the Minsala Marine, Litchjendily Marine, and Nene Marine discoveries, each of which lie conventional waters close to existing infrastructure. Eni says this will enable them to be brought into production shortly and at competitive costs.
Eni subsidiary Eni Congo SA operates Marine XII with 65% interest.
