Eni Finds Oil in Angola's Offshore Block 15/06

Italy's Eni said on Wednesday it had made a new oil discovery off the coast of Angola in what is one of the oil and gas group's key geographic areas for growth.

Eni said it estimated the new deep water discovery in Block 15/06 contained 300 million barrels of oil in place.

State-controlled Eni is the biggest foreign oil and gas producer in Africa and, under its new CEO Claudio Descalzi, is increasingly focusing its business on looking for hydrocarbons.

"Like the recent discoveries in Congo and Gabon, this new find exemplifies the results we can achieve by applying leading edge technologies to exploration, and substantiates the decision to refocus Eni on key oil and gas competences," Descalzi said.

Eni is operator of Block 15/06 with a 35 percent stake. Other partners are Sonangol P&P with 30 percent, SSI Fifteen Limited with 25 percent, and Falcon Oil Holding Angola SA Statoil (STO) Angola with 5 percent each.

Reporting by Stephen Jewkes