The Italian energy giant Eni is currently the main oil and gas producer in Egypt. The compangy has been operating in Egypt since 1954, through its subsidiary International Egyptian Oil Company (IEOC) Production BV.
The company, as the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources of Egypt announced on December 24th, has signed an agreement with a public company, the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (Egpc), in order to carry out activities of “exploration, development and exploitation of oil in the areas of the Gulf of Suez and the Nile Delta”, for a total investment of one billion dollars.
The contract also includes a commitment from Eni to additionally spend “not less than $20 million” to drill four wells, the ministry added in a statement.
The agreement was signed by Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla, EGPC Chairman Abed Ezz El Regal, and Eni CEO of Natural Resources Activities Alessandro Politi.
The statement pointed out that the deal is part of the strategy of the Ministry of Petroleum to boost production rates and to tackle the natural decline in wells by using the latest technologies.
The Ministry also seeks to encourage its partners to invest more in oil and gas exploration and research activities, pursuing the aspiration of the country to become a major oil and gas regional hub.
In recent years, Eni has taken part in important oil discoveries in Egypt, obtaining several awards, including the discovery in 2015 of the giant Zohr gas field, the biggest-ever in the Mediterranean, off the Egyptian coast.
Eni’s latest announcements date back to last October, with the discovery of three new oil fields in Meleiha and South West Meleiha concessions, in the Western Desert of Egypt.
