ITALIAN oil and gas company Eni said it planned to raise its global oil production by 80% to 1.8m barrels per day (bpd) in four years, from the current output of 1.0m bpd. Eni Chairman Gian Maria Gros-Pietro said Nigeria, OPEC’s sixth largest oil exporter, was central to achieving its plan to nearly double oil output, and that it would invest $1.0bn to raise its production in the West African country. ”We have spent more than 40 years to produce 1m barrels of oil equivalent per day. Now, in four years we want to achieve a minimum production of 1.5m bpd, but our real objective is 1.8m bpd,” Gros-Pietro said. Eni’s subsidiary Agip operates in joint venture partnership with the Nigerian state oil firm NNPC. – Reuters