Eni has started production of the East Hub Development Project in Block 15/06 of the Angolan deep offshore region, five months ahead of schedule.

The oilcompany is using the Armada Olombendo Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel for production which can generate up to 80,000bpd of oiland compress up to 3.4 million cubic metres of gasa day.

FPSO Olombendo will put Cabaa South East field into production with nine wells and four manifolds at adepth of 450m.

The Cabaa South East field is located about 350km from Luanda and 130km west of Soyo.

East Hub Project production will add to the output from the existing West Hub Project in the Sangos, Cinguvu and Mpungi fields, where another vessel, FPSO NGoma, is operating.

Overall, Block 15/06is expected to reacha peak of 150,000bpd this year.

Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi said: We are proud of what we have achieved in Block 15/06. Leveraging our extensive experience in exploration, we have been able to discover a total ofthree billion barrels of oil in place throughten commercial discoveries.

"We have been able to discover a total of three billion barrels of oil in place through ten commercial discoveries."

Moreover, thanks to strong field development and project management, we are beginning production of the East Hub with a time-to-market of onlythree years, andfive months ahead of schedule.

Cabaa South East brings our number of fields in production to five, withtwo more expected to start before the end of 2018.

This is yet another example of Enis Angolan and worldwide capability to deliver state-of-the-art projects, and was made possible by Enis new operational model, where we play an increasingly active role in the integrated development of our projects.

Eni operates Block 15/06 with 36.84% stake. Sonangol Pesquisa e Produo and SSI Fifteen Limited hold the remaining ownership with interests of36.84% and 26.32%respectively.

Eni has been operating in Angola since 1980 through its subsidiary.

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Eni starts production of East Hub Development Project, offshore Angola - Offshore Technology