Claudio Descalzi, CEO of Italian oil company Eni, met Thursday with the Egypt president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to discuss Eni’s operations in Egpyt.
According to a statement by Eni issued on Thursday, special attention was given to Eni’s progress on the plan for the development of the giant Zohr gas discovery Eni made in September. The activities at the field, planned to further assess the discovery will resume in January 2016. The discovery has been dubbed the largest ever in the Mediterranean, and it could hold a potential of 30 trillion cubic feet of gas in place.
Apart from development plans, the timing and costs associated with the project were discussed too, Eni said. However, the company did not reveal any actual details when it comes to costs and timing of the Zohr development in its Thursday’s statement. To remind, Descalzi and el-Sisi meet had met in October, when they said they would work toward an accelerated development of the Zohr discovery. Eni CEO has previously been quoted as saying that $10 billion might be needed for the field to be developed.
Furthermore, Eni said on Thursday, the parties talked about all Eni’s assets in Egypt with the aim of maximizing the production in the country, “with a particular focus on the Nooros discovery , which, with the production start of the second well, will reach a potential of 5MMsmc/d.”
Also, the meeting addressed the prospects that could result from the establishment of a gas hub in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, which would allow to share Egyptian transport infrastructures and exports with the nearby discoveries in the area, as those of Cyprus and Israel.