Eni Reports Successful Results of US Shale Oil Play

Italian oil and gas group Eni said on Wednesday it had posted high early production rates in its shale oil exploration project with U.S. group Quicksilver Resources in West Texas.

Eni said in a statement the production rate at its Stallings 1H horizontal well was on the high side of rates seen in this part of the Delaware Basin and "represents a promising start of the activity Eni is undertaking in the unconventional oil plays in the US."

Eni, which is focused on conventional oil and gas resources, has announced shale oil and gas development projects in Algeria, China, Pakistan and Ukraine.

"The well... is currently producing on a restricted choke at a rate of 750 barrels of oil equivalent per day, of which 90 percent is oil," it said.

Production from the Stallings 1H well is expected to start at the beginning of September.

The agreement with Quicksilver covers an area of about 52,500 acres located in Pecos County. Quicksilver is the operator and jointly owns the project with the Italian company.

In the U.S., Eni owns interests in 200 leases in the Gulf of Mexico and 530 leases in shale oil and gas plays in Texas.

(Reporting by Stephen Jewkes)