Zacks_Analysts' Blog : Eni Extends Indonesian Ties - Analyst Blog

Italian energy major Eni SpA (E) announced that its Indonesian unit has won two new Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) in the country – one in the West Papua Province and the other in the offshore East Kalimantan Province.

Eni has won 100% interest in the Arguni I license in the West Papua Province of eastern Indonesia. The company intends to drill two wells on the block – located onshore and offshore in the Bintuni Basin – within the first 3 years of exploration using 2D and 3D program.

For the second contract, Eni will be co-partnered by Niko Resources Ltd., Black Platinum Energy Ltd, the Indonesian affiliate of Statoil ASA (STO) and GDF SUEZ.  The consortium won the rights for the Kutei basin’s North Ganal block that is adjoining the successful Jangkrik and Jangkrik North East discoveries. Eni will act as the operator of the concession and plans to drill one well in the first three years of exploration with a 2D seismic program.

Eni shares a decade-long alliance with Indonesia with working interests in fourteen permits of which it operates eight. The company’s offshore activities are extended over the Tarakan Basin, offshore Kalimantan, north of Sumatra and West Timor.                                                               

The Eni-operated Jangkrik field is expected to come online in 2015 and the company has already presented the Plan of Development to the Indonesian authorities. In the Kutei Basin, the company is also involved with the development of the significant gas reserves of the Ganal and Rapak blocks.

Based in Rome, Italy, Eni with its consolidated subsidiaries is engaged in oil and gas, electricity generation, petrochemicals, oilfield services and engineering industries. The company is engaged in offshore and onshore hydrocarbon field construction and offers offshore and onshore drilling, and offshore design and engineering services for oil and gas companies.

We remain confident about Eni’s long-term upstream delivery potential as new fields are continuously coming on-stream. However, we expect the company to perform in line with its peers and the industry as a whole and rate the stock Neutral on a long-term basis.

Eni holds a Zacks #3 Rank, which translates into a Hold rating for a period of one to three months.