Egypt signs update to head of agreement with Eni after new discovery

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Saturday - 25 July 2015

TCP : Italy’s ENI signed Friday an update to the head of an agreement signed last March, following a gas discovery made by Eni in the Nile Delta concession, the company stated.

Eni’s CEO, Claudio Descalzi, and Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum, Sherif Ismail, signed the update in the presence of Egyptian Prime Minister, Ibrahim Mahlab, who is visiting Rome currently, and his Italian counterpart, Matteo Renzi.

“The update describes the commitment of the parties to jointly evaluate the development opportunities of the discovery by renegotiating the terms and contract extension of the concession,” Eni said in the statement.On Monday, Egypt’s Petroleum Ministry announced that the Italian oil company had discovered gas reserves in the Abu Madi West license in the Nile Delta offshore, with preliminary estimates of 15 billion cubic meters of gas and associated condensates.

It added, “Today’s update further reaffirms and strengthens the commitments undertaken with the head of agreement signed last March during the Egyptian Economic Development Conference in Sharm el-Sheik.”

In June, Egypt signed an energy exploration deal with Eni worth $2 billion, activating an MOU signed during the economic summit in March.

The new investment is expected to lead to the implementation of projects in the next four years and the development of 200 million barrels of oil and 1.3 TCF of gas.

Egypt’s government is working to tackle the worst energy crisis that the country has faced over the past years; rolling power cuts in the summer have become routine since the January 25 Revolution in 2011, caused by fuel shortfalls at power plants, and increasing demand.

“These investments will also contribute effectively to the increasing energy needs of local demand,” said Eni.

Eni has been operating in Egypt since 1954 through its subsidiary IEOC and is a market leader with a daily production of some 180,000 barrels of oil equivalent.

The Cairo Post