The Minsala Marine exploration prospect is situated 35km from the shoreline and 12km from the recent Nené Marine discovery.
The oil has been discovered at the Minsala Marine 1 well, which was drilled at 75m of water depth and reached a total depth of 3,700m.
Eni identified significant accumulation of light oil in the Lower Cretaceous age pre-salt sequence at the well, passing through a hydrocarbon column of 420m.
Preliminary estimates show that the Minsala Marine discovery has about 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent, of which 80% is oil.
Eni chief executive Claudio Descalzi said: "In Congo, this is the third discovery to be successfully drilled in the Marine XII permit pre-salt play following the Litchjendily and Nene Marine discoveries, which are both already under development.
"These discoveries are located in conventional waters near existing infrastructure and can therefore be brought into production in very competitive time to market and cost.
"This result also demonstrates Eni’s strong technical competences and the effectiveness of Eni’s exploration technologies, especially given the technical complexity of exploring the West African pre-salt plays."
The company has also scheduled the appraisal plan of the discovery as well as commenced commercial development studies for the significant hydrocarbons reserves.
Eni, through its own subsidiary Eni Congo, operated the Marine XII and has 65% stake.
Image: Preliminary estimates show that the Minsala Marine discovery has about 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent. Photo: courtesy of y TeddyBear[Picnic]/Freedigitalphotos.net.
