Eni made a new oil discovery in Block 15/06 in the Ochigufu exploration prospect in deepwater offshore Angola, a press release said. Ochigufu is the 10th commercial oil discovery made in Block 15/06. The new discovery is estimated to contain 300 MMbbl of oil in place.

Ochigufu 1 NFW well, which has led to the discovery, will be brought into production in record time. The well is located at about 150 km (93 miles) off the coast and 9.8 km (6.1 miles) from the Ngoma FPSO unit west hub, and the proximity to Ngoma FPSO unit allows the increase of the resource base of the West Hub project currently underway.

Ochigufu 1 NFW was directionally drilled to reach the targets in optimal position and proved a net oil pay of 47 m (154 ft) contained in the Lower Miocene and Oligocene sandstones with very good petrophysical properties, the release said. The data acquired in Ochigufu 1 well indicate a production capacity equal to more than 5,000 bbl/d of oil.

Eni is operator of Block 15/06 with a 35% stake. The other partners of the joint venture committed to the block are Sonangol P&P (30%), SSI Fifteen Ltd. (25%), Falcon Oil Holding Angola SA (5%) and Statoil Angola Block 15/06 (5%).