French oil company Maurel & Prom’s sale of assets in the Republic of Congo have helped generate first-half net income of €812.2 million despite sales that fell off 14 percent, the company declared Tuesday.

The €798.2-million Congo sale to Italy’s ENI helped erase the loss recorded a year ago. Also helping is the development of its Caroil drilling business, which is active in the burgoening Tanzanian market, a “high-impact” exploratoin area recently to become a focus.

Caroil's contribution to sales was up 135 percent to €44.2 million over first-half 2006.

In Tanzania, the Mkuranga-1 well showed evidence of gas in the Ruaruke formation and tests flowed 19.2 million cubic feet per day, or 3 300 barrels of oil equivalent per day. A seismic campaign and an aeromagnetic campaign have lead to drilling opportunities at the tail end of the year..