Eni Congo Sponsors $30 Million Search for Oil, Renewable Energy

(Bloomberg) -- Eni SpA’s unit in the Republic of Congo will sponsor a $30 million research center that will search for oil and renewable energy, government spokesman Thierry Moungalla said.

The center, located in President Denis Sassou Nguesso’s home town of Oyo, about 420 kilometers (261 miles) north of the capital, Brazzaville, will also support oil companies awarded exploration blocks in the region, Moungalla said by phone Thursday.

Eni signed an agreement with state oil company Societe Nationale des Petroles du Congo in 2013 to explore the Ngolo block, in the Cuvette Basin, where Oyo is located. SNPC and Eni Congo are still discussing a production-sharing agreement on the Ngolo block, Hydrocarbons Minister Jean-Marc Thystere-Tchicaya said at a ceremony to mark the start of construction of the research center on March 13.

To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Richardson in Nairobi at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.

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