Eni farms into permit offshore South Africa

Eni SPA has agreed to acquire 40% interest and operatorship in exploration right permit 236 (ER236) offshore South Africa’s east coast from Sasol Petroleum International, the upstream oil and gas arm of Sasol Ltd.

The permit allows the company to explore for hydrocarbons on an 82,000-sq-km unexplored offshore area in the Durban and Zululand basins in Kwazulu-Natal province. The permit was granted to Sasol by the South African regulator Petroleum Agency of South Africa (PASA) at the end of last year.

Eni already has an exploration presence in Mozambique and Kenya (OGJ Online, July 2, 2012; May 27, 2014).

Eni says the agreement with Sasol forms part of a wider cooperation between the companies in southern Africa and other areas, mainly focused on maximizing opportunities in the gas value chain.