Eni Completes Indonesian Stake Sale

Italian producer Eni has completed the transfer of a 20% participating interest in the East Sepinggan area offshore Indonesia to UK Neptune Energy, it said December 4. Eni, with 65% participating interest, will continue to be the operator. The third partner is state Pertamina (15%). 

Neptune and Eni are partners in several upstream projects, such as the Muara Bakau area, which includes the Jangkrik field in the Kutei Basin, offshore East Kalimantan, where Eni is the joint venture operator with 55%.

Gas production from Merakes will be shipped to the Bontang LNG plant using also all the other existing facilities of Jangkrik field as well as the East Kalimantan transportation network. This new production will also contribute to the life extension of the plant, which is part-owned by Neptune Energy and has been under-performing this year for commercial reasons.

Eni’s "dual exploration" strategy consists of selling minority stakes in its exploration successes, while maintaining control and operatorship, in parallel to the fast-track development of discovered reserves. Eni has been able to cash in more than $10bn from 2013 to 2019, from this tactic, of which a large part came from the Zohr field offshore Egypt.