Eni Completes 10% Zohr Sale to BP
Italy's Eni said it signed a deed in Cairo February 13 to complete the sale to BP of a 10% stake in the Shorouk concession, offshore Egypt, which includes the supergiant Zohr gas field. The $375mn sale to BP was agreed in November 2016 and the UK major has the option to secure a further 5%.
Eni, through its Egyptian subsidiary IEOC, now holds a 90% stake in the licence. Russian state Rosneft agreed in December to acquire a 30-35% stake.
The Italian firm said its CEO Claudio Descalzi was received for the second time this year by Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
Zohr from the shore (Photo credit: Eni / Twitter)
Descalzi, BP CEO Bob Dudley, and Egypt's petroleum minister Tarek El Molla signed the deed in the presence of Egypt's prime minister Sherif Ismail. Eni asserted that first gas from Zohr remains scheduled by the end of this year; it says Zohr has total potential gas in place of 850bn m3 (30 trillion ft3).
Mark Smedley