Eni Begins Production on Massive Gas Field

Italian oil and gas giant Eni has started production of the massive gas field Perla, which is the largest offshore gas field in Latin America. The first production began 50 kilometers (31 miles) in the Gulf of Venezuela. 

The field is located in the Cardón IV Block operated by "Cardón IV S.A.", a company jointly owned by Eni (50%) and Repsol (50%). Perla is the largest offshore gas field discovered in Latin America and the first gas field to be brought to production in Venezuela.

Eni CEO, Claudio Descalzi commented, "Eni has reached another milestone with the production start-up of the Perla offshore field, which is in line with the timing presented to the market in March during our strategy presentation. Perla is the most significant start-up projects for Eni in 2015, and it confirms the validity of our development model that will allowed us to reach industry-leading production in the market".

The development of Perla has been planned in three phases to optimize timing and investment. It includes four light offshore platforms linked by a pipeline to a Central Processing Facility (CPF) located onshore at Punto Fijo (Paraguaná Peninsula). The CPF ahs two treatment that are capable of handling 150 Mscfd and 300 Mscfd.

Perla currently holds 17 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of gas, which corresponds to 3.1 billion of barrels of oil equivalent (BOE), and its most productive wells might be able to produce over 150 million cubic feet per day.

Eni’s current net production in Venezuela is approximately 12,000 BOE, but is expected to exceed 50,000 BOE by year end due to production in Perla.