Eni plans to spend up to $230 million on offshore drilling in the Timor Sea over the next 18 months, according to the managing director of its Australian division.

Ernie Delfos said operations will take place in the Evans Shoal area, the Blackwood area, the Kitan area, in deep-water Timor-Leste, in the Vesta-Swan area, and the Blacktip field.

Eni is investing heavily in Australia and the Far East because energy demand in the region is strong, Delfos told delegates at the South East Asia Australia Offshore Conference in Darwin.

The first well for the Italian energy giant is the Evans Shoal North exploration-appraisal well in Block NT/P48 which is being drilled using the jack-up Ensco 104.

Eni will also take delivery of the semi-submersible drilling rig Stena Clyde in the coming weeks for other elements of its programme. Evans Shoal is a big resource, containing about 7 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas but it has a high carbon dioxide content of 28%.

The joint venture partners are Shell (32.5%), Eni (32.5%), Petronas Carigali (25%) and Osaka Gas (10%), all of whom have liquefied natural gas positions in Australia that they want to grow.

Eni will then move on to the Blackwood-2 well in Block NT/P68 where the company is trying to build a gas resource alongside the Heron discovery.

After that, two development wells are due at the Kitan oilfield in the Timor joint petroleum development area, plus two exploration wells in JPDA 11-106.

An oil feature is due for drilling in Block AC/P21 near the Vesta-Swan discoveries, followed by near-field targets at the Blacktip gas field.