Eni SpA (ENI) crews in Angola, Africa ’s second-largest crude oil producer, upgraded a production vessel for new pumping this year as the southwest African country targets output rivaling its bigger competitor, Nigeria. Eni plans to start production within five months as operator of Block 15-06’s West Hub fields, estimated to hold reserves of 200 million barrels, and boost flows to 80,000 barrels a day, documents on the Rome-based company’s website show. The block’s East Hub development is due to pump about 49,000 barrels a day after starting in 2016, the documents say. The block, 350 kilometers (217 miles) northwest of Luanda, the capital, is one of eight offshore projects Petroleum Minister Jose Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos is counting on to help raise production to 2 million barrels a day by next year from 1.66 million last month. That compares with Nigeria’s 2.15 million barrels daily. One of the […]