TIRANA (Albania), December 20 (SeeNews) – Italian energy company Eni said on Friday it signed a production sharing contract for oil exploration in Albania’s onshore Dumre block with a 100% equity interest, following a tender launched in September by the Albanian National Agency for Natural Resources (AKBN).
The Dumre block covers an area of 587 sq km and is located approximately 40 km south of the capital Tirana, in a proven hydrocarbon area with good oil prospectivity, Eni said in a press release, following the signing of the agreement in Tirana.
The company said it will operate the Dumre block through its new subsidiary Eni Albania.
Eni has been present in Albania since the early 1990s, competing in the first international tender for the Albanian offshore and being awarded with two offshore exploration blocks, Adriatiku-2 and Adriatiku-4, the company said, adding that after drilling three wells with non-commercial results, Eni left the country in 1999.
Albania has oil reserves of 220 million barrels and natural gas reserves of 5.7 billion cubic metres. The Patos-Marinza oilfield near the southwestern city of Fier is the largest onshore field in continental Europe.