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Eni Boosts Gas Reserves With New Discovery Offshore Egypt

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Eni S.p.A. (E - Free Report) recently announced a natural gas discovery in the Great Nooros Area, located in the Abu Madi West Development Lease. The site is in the conventional waters of the Nile Delta, located offshore Egypt.

The latest discovery was made through the exploratory well Nidoco NW-1, at a water depth of 16 meters. Notably, the well is located 4 kilometers north of the Nooros field, which was discovered in July 2015. Through the Nidoco NW-1 well, Eni has found 100 meters thick gas-bearing sands. Of the total, it found 50 meters thick Pliocene sands of the Kafr-El-Sheik formations and another 50 meters thick Messinian age sandstone of the Abu Madi formations. These formations are expected to have good petrophysical properties.

With the new discovery, the company expects more than 4 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas in place in the Great Nooros Area. Eni, the operator of the block, is expected to look for development options for this gas discovery using the region’s existing infrastructures, which will in turn boost synergies from the same. Eni has a 75% interest in the Abu Madi West Development Lease. It has BP plc (BP - Free Report) as a contract member in the lease, which holds the remaining 25% stake.

Through its subsidiary IEOC, Eni operates in Egypt. The Italy-based energy major is present in the country since 1954. At present, the company’s equity production from the country is around 300,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

It also recently announced the approval of 2020 interim dividend of 12 euro cents per share. In 2019, Eni paid an interim dividend of 43 euro cents per share. American depositary receipts (ADR) holders as of Sep 22 will receive 24 euro cents per ADR. It is payable on Oct 8.

Price Performance

Eni’s shares have increased 19.1% in the past six months compared with 23.4% rise of the industry it belongs to.

Zacks Rank and Stocks to Consider

Currently, the stock carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked players in the energy space include Equinor ASA (EQNR - Free Report) and Bloom Energy Corporation (BE - Free Report) . While Equinor sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Bloom Energy holds a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Equinor’s bottom line for 2021 is expected to skyrocket 125% year over year.

Bloom Energy’ bottom line for 2021 is expected to rise 71.2% year over year.

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