Perth, Australia April 2008: Cables International will supply all cables required for fabrication of Eni’s Blacktip project production platform. The award of this contract represents a further milestone for Cables International in Australia securing the company’s position as a major cables supplier to both the Mining and Offshore sectors.

Eni has started the development of the Blacktip gas field, located in the Timor Sea approximately 110 km off the shore of Northern Australia in the Bonaparte Basin, at a water depth of some 50 meters. The Blacktip field is fully owned and operated by Eni and has recoverable reserves of 150 million boe.

 
The project provides for the drilling of 2 initial development wells, the installation of a production platform, the laying of a 108-kilometer long offshore pipeline and the construction of an onshore treatment plant with a capacity of 1.3 billion cubic meters per year.

The gas drilled from Blacktip field will be mainly used to generate electricity in Darwin and other Northern Territory locations, through a 25-year Gas Sales Agreement with Power Water Corporation. Production is planned to start in 2009 at an initial annual rate of 650 million cubic meters, increasing to 1.1 billion cubic meters.