Eni to drill offshore exploration wells off the coast of Mozambique

Italian oil and gas giant Eni is preparing to drill its first offshore exploration well in Mozambique in about eight years.

The West Capella vessel has started initial drilling of the Raia-1 well, which will explore possible new oil and gas basins off the coast of Mozambique. The target is near Angoche, about 375 miles (604 kilometers) south of the Rovuma Basin, where the Rome-based company began producing LNG last year.

Although it is unclear whether Eni will discover economic deposits of oil and gas near Angoche, the drilling could be the start of a new wave of investment in Mozambique's hydrocarbon sector. The company signed an exploration contract with the authorities in 2018 for the A5-A block, part of Mozambique's fifth hydrocarbon block auction. Eni declined to comment.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. completed the last offshore exploratory well in Mozambique in mid-2015, Mozambique's oil and gas regulator, the National Institute of Petroleum, said by email on Monday.

TotalEnergies SE acquired Anadarko's stake in the development for $3.9 billion in 2019. A $20 billion LNG export project resulting from the exploration has been put on hold for more than two years due to an Islamic State-linked insurgency in the region.