Eni, partners pledge $7.7 bln investment in Egypt over four years

The remarks came during a meeting between President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and senior officials at Eni on Sunday.

Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El-Molla also attended the meeting. 

Desclazi stated that Eni and its partners will finance the investments. 

For his part, El-Sisi said he was looking forward to advancing the cooperation between Egypt and Eni in search, exploration, development and production to leverage Egypt’s resources in the energy sector.

Eni, which has been operating in Egypt since 1954, has also been awarded exploration rights in North Rafah, North El-Fayrouz, Northeast El-Arish, Tiba and Bellatrix-Seti East. According to Eni's website, the company is presently the leading producer in Egypt, with an equity production of hydrocarbons of approximately 350,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Eni's most notable discovery in Egypt was the Zohr Gas Field in 2015, which allowed the country to achieve self-sufficiency in gas by 2018.

Last week, the Egyptian government announced a plan to drill 45 natural exploratory gas wells in the Mediterranean and the Nile Delta with $1.9 billion in investments until mid-2025.

Similarly, global energy giant British Petroleum (BP) plans to invest $3.5 billion in the exploration and development of natural gas resources in Egypt over the next three years.

Egypt has been taking steps towards developing the energy sector to position itself as an energy hub. The country expects to produce about eight million tons of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) in 2023 after discovering a new gas field in the Nargis area in January.

Egyptian LNG exports increased by 14 percent year-on-year to 7.5 million tons in 2022.