Eni has made a new high-impact discovery at the Agulha exploration prospect in Area 4, offshore Mozambique, the company said in a press release.

Preliminary estimates show that the Agulha structure could contain 141.6 Bcm to 198 Bcm (5 Tcf to 7 Tcf) of gas in place. Eni and its Area 4 joint venture partners are finalizing the assessment of the discovery and planning the appraisal strategy, according to the press release.

The Agulha well, which led to the discovery, is the 10th well drilled back to back in Area 4, where exploration has achieved a 100% rate of success. Agulha was drilled in 2,492 m (8,176 ft) of water and reached a total depth of 6,203 m (20,351 ft), according to the press release. The well is located in the southern part of Area 4, approximately 80 km (50 miles) off the Cabo Delgado coast and was drilled to assess new exploration targets and to test the hydrocarbon potential of geological sequences, which are older than the ones drilled in the Mamba complex.

Agulha encountered about 160 m (525 ft) of wet gas pay in good-quality Paleocene and Cretaceous reservoirs. The discovery opens a new exploration play in the southern part of Area 4 where the drilling of three additional wells is foreseen in 2014, according to the press release.

Eni is the operator of Area 4 with a 50% indirect interest owned through Eni East Africa, which holds 70% of Area 4. The other partners are Galp Energia (10%), KOGAS (10%), and ENH (10%, carried through the exploration phase). CNPC owns a 20% indirect participation in Area 4 through Eni East Africa.