Eni Mozambico S.p.A. is preparing to drill its first exploration well in Area A5-A, off the coast of Angoche district, Nampula province.

To this end, the West Capella drilling rig, owned by Aquadrill and contracted by the concessionaires in the area, is already in national waters and is about to reach the site of the exploration well.

This development follows the conclusion of the work to assess the oil potential in the concession area, an activity included in the Work Program agreed with the government under the Concession Contract for Exploration and Production (CCPP), initialed in December 2018, as a result of the Fifth Tender for Concession of Areas for Exploration and Production of Hydrocarbons, which became effective in January of the following year.

The evaluation of the oil potential during this first sub-period of research in the area culminated in the identification of the Raia prospect. As a result, the Italian oil company and its partners decided to drill the Raia well, which is expected to start up this April.

One of the purposes of drilling the Raia-1 well is to investigate the presence of hydrocarbons in Tertiary turbidite complexes.

It should be noted that this is the first exploration well in this part of the Mozambican Basin, which will allow geological information to be gathered and the oil potential of this region to be assessed.

Area A5-A is located off the coast of Angoche, in the province of Nampula, at a water depth of between 300 and 1800 meters. With an area of 4,612 km2, it is approximately 50 km from Angoche and 220 km from Nacala.

The Consortium operating in the area is currently made up of Eni Mozambico S.p.A. which holds 49.5% of participating interest; Qatar Energy Mozambique, Limitada with 25.5%; Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos E.P. with 15.0% and Sasol Petroleum Mozambique Exploration Lda, with 10.0% respectively.