Italian oil and gas company Eni completed the sale of a 10 percent stake in the Shorouk concession, offshore Egypt to BP.
The deal for the sale of the concession stake, where the super-giant Zohr gas field is located, has been agreed in November 2016. The sale completion was signed by Eni’s CEO, Claudio Descalzi, Bob Dudley, CEO of BP and the Egyptian Minister of Petroleum, Tarek El Molla.
Eni, through its subsidiary IEOC, now holds a 90 percent stake in the license, while Rosneft has agreed to acquire a 30 percent stake, subject to the Egyptian governmental approval.
In addition, Descalzi met with the Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi confirming that the development of Zohr is progressing very quickly, having been fast-tracked and that the start of production is confirmed for 2017, just two years after the discovery was made.
Zohr was discovered by Eni in August of 2015 and, with a total potential of 850 billion cubic meters of gas in place, is the largest natural gas field ever discovered in the Mediterranean.
In Egypt, Eni and BP, are also partners in the Nooros field, discovered in July 2015 in the Nile Delta, that is already producing about 25 MMScm/d only 15 months after the startup of the field, as well as in Baltim SW field, discovered in June 2016. The start-up of Baltim SW is expected in 2019.