Eni raises annual production growth target after oil discoveries

ROME. March 15. KAZINFORM Eni SpA (ENI), Italy's biggest oil company, increased its average annual production growth target to more than 4 percent through 2016 after discovering fields.

"Exceptional exploration successes" allowed Eni to raise its target from a previous production growth target of more than 3 percent, the Rome-based company said today in a statement. Eni estimated more than 3 percent annual growth after 2016.

Eni said discoveries and developments in Russia, the Barents Sea, Kazakhstan, Venezuela, the Far East and sub-Saharan Africa helped it boost targets. New projects will add more than 700,000 barrels of oil equivalent of production by 2016, the company said, presenting strategy to investors.

The company will also use about 20 billion euros ($26 billion) a year in cash flow from production and more than 10 billion euros from disposals, including the sale of stakes in Galp SGPS SA and Snam SpA (SRG), to fund 56.8 billion euros of investments through 2016. That's 1.6 billion euros more than forecast in the last strategic plan, Kazinform refers to Bloomberg.

Eni said today it will get $4.2 billion from the sale of a stake in its Mozambique assets to China National Petroleum Corp.