Italian petroleum group ENI has announced plans to invest $1.5bn to exploit large oil deposits discovered in the Republic of Congo by the end of 2014. The announcement was made by ENI General Director Claudio Descalzi after meeting with Congolese President Denis Sassou N’Guesso in Brazzaville on June 24.
“We have discovered a lot of oil reserves and we believe these are not the last discoveries. We estimate it to be around 3.5 billion barrels of oil. In addition, we have also discovered huge gas deposits,” he said.
“When such deposits are discovered, it is obvious that there is a lot of work to do, and a lot of investment is required. The Republic of Congo and Mozambique are the two countries where we plan to invest a lot,” he added. ENI discovered huge oil deposits in Bloc Marine XII, some 17km off the Congolese coastline.
Present in the country since 1968, ENI Congo currently produces 105,000 barrels of crude oil per day. It is the second biggest petroleum operator in the country after French group, Total.
http://www.neurope.eu/article/eni-invest-15bn-congo