Italian oil and gas group Eni said on Thursday it expects its operations in Africa, including its jumbo find in Mozambique, to underpin long-term growth as it presses ahead with plans to focus on upstream development.
"East Africa is emerging as a world-class province and Eni has early move advantage," said exploration division executive Luca Bertelli during a meeting with analysts.
Eni, the biggest foreign major in Africa, has found about 70 trillion cubic feet of gas at its 70 percent-owned Mamba acreage in Mozambique which has attracted considerable interest from oil rivals.
"It is the jewel in our crown. "We are evaluating a number of separate development options," Africa and Middle East executive Roberto Casula said.
As its gas and power sales division suffers from increased competition and falling demand and its refining business continues to lose money, Eni is looking to shift investments to the more profitable exploration and production (E&P).
E&P head Claudio Descalzi said he could confirm production growth targets for 2011-2015 of more than 3 percent and longer-term growth of around 3 percent.
"We aim to grow organically," Descalzi said. The group is targeting more than 1.3 million barrels of oil per day of new production by 2022.
In Libya, Eni said its previous forecast for a return to pre-conflict production levels of more than 270,000 barrels per day was "optimistic".
It said it expected output at around 240,000 barrels per day for 2012.
Source: Reuters
