Egypt, Eni ink oil exploration, exploitation deal worth $1bn

The Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) has signed an agreement with the Italian giant energy group Eni for oil exploration and exploitation in the Gulf of Suez and Nile Delta regions worth $1 billion, Arab Finance reports, citing a statement by the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources.
The deal signed by Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El-Molla, EGPC’s CEO Abed Ezz El-Regal for Egypt and by Eni’s Executive Director of Operations Alessandro Politi according to the statemet comes within the framework of the petroleum ministry’s strategy to increase production rates and address the natural decline in wells by using the latest technology.
It also according to the statement aims to encourage the pumping of more investments in the field of oil and gas exploration and boost Egypt’s reserves.
Eni, last month, indicated the discovery of three new oil fields in the Meleiha and South West Meleiha concessions in the Western Desert. The Italian company has been operating in since 1954 through its subsidiary, the International Egyptian Oil Company (IEOC) Production BV.
It discovered in 2015 the giant Zohr gas field, the biggest-ever in the Mediterranean, off the Egyptian coast.