New work: in Democratic Republic of Congo for Eni
Eni heeds DR Congo call
Italian giant Eni is poised to start exploration work in the Democratic Republic of Congo after sealing a deal with the government in Kinshasa.
Eni said the deal covers the onshore Cuvette basin, and eastern regions of the country including the Great Lakes area, North Kivu in the country's east and Lake Tanganyika.
The decision to enter the DR Congo's relatively unexplored play comes as Eni shifts its focus from Nigeria. DR Congo currently produces just 30,000 barrels per day from offshore fields.
Eni did not say how much it planned to invest in DR Congo, but last year it earmarked $3 billion for work in neighbouring Congo-Brazzaville.
Joseph Pili Pili Mawezi, head of the Petroleum Projects Department at DR Congo's Oil Ministry, told Dow Jones Newswires Lake Tanganyikais believed to hold up to 20 billion barrels of heavy oil, of which 75% is thought to be producible.
Lake Kivu, in the North Kivu area, holds 65 billion cubic metres of methane gas, the United Nations Environment Programme said in a report released in 2006.
Separately, Mawezi said DR Congo intends to hold a licensing round for tracts in or around lakes Kivu and Tanganyika in the third quarter.