MILAN, Italy, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- Italian energy company Eni said Thursday it made a "significant" discovery of oil and natural gas while drilling off the coast of Congo.
Drilling into the Nene Marine 3 exploration well led to a "significant" discovery of oil and natural gas in a so-called pre-salt layer, an area beneath a thick layer of salt on the sea floor.
An initial production test yielded 5,000 barrels of oil per day and Eni said it estimates the discovery contains 1.2 billion barrels of oil and 1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in place.
"The block also has a significant additional exploration upside which will be determined by the next exploratory and delineation campaign," the company said in a statement.
Eni is the leading natural gas producer in the country. It reached a record 119 million cubic feet of natural gas production in 2011. The company accounts for 30 percent of the Congo's oil production.
Eni said it has been working in the Republic of Congo since the late 1960s. Its current share of production from its various ventures is 110,000 barrels of oil per day.
The company in August said there may be as much as 600 million barrels of oil and 700 billion cubic feet of natural gas off the Congolese coast.
