Italy's Eni said it ha struck a new oil discovery in the Afoxé exploration prospect located in Block 15/06, offshore Angola.

The discovery, estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million barrels of light oil in place, was made in the Afoxé-1 NFW well located in the southeast area of Block 15/06, approximately 120 kilometers off the coast, 50 kilometers southwest from the Olombendo floating production, storage and offloading unit (FPSO) and 20 kilometers west of the recent Kalimba-1 discovery.

Afoxé-1 NFW was drilled in a water depth of 780 meters and reached a total depth of 1,723 meters and proved a 20 meters net oil pay of high quality oil (37° API) contained in Upper Miocene sandstones with excellent petrophysical properties.

The well has not been tested, but an intensive data collection has been carried out that indicates a production capacity in excess of 5,000 barrels of oil per day, Eni said. The new nearby discoveries of Kalimba and Afoxé are now accounting together a potential of 400-500 mboe of high quality oil in place and represent a new cluster that can be exploited jointly in a new development concept.

Afoxé discovery confirms the oil exploration potential still held in southern part of Block 15/06, previously considered mainly gas prone. Eni said it intends to drill up to four new exploration wells back-to-back in Block 15/06 during 2019.

“Eni is committed to developing this discovery leveraging its best-in-class time-to-market, whilst at the same time launching an intense exploration campaign that will fully support the company’s mid-term organic growth in the Country,” Eni’s CEO Claudio Descalzi said.

Block 15/06 is developed by a joint venture formed by operator Eni (36.84 percent), Sonangol P&P (36.84 percent) and SSI Fifteen Limited (26.32 percent).

The Italian oil and gas company also announce on Monday it has started production from the Vandumbu field in Block 15/06 through West Hub N’Goma FPSO and a subsea multiphase boosting system (SMBS).