The Egyptian government has approved Eni’s proposed sale of 45% stake in the Nour North Sinai Offshore concession (Nour block) in the Mediterranean Sea to Mubadala Petroleum and BP.
Image: Eni has brought down its stake in the Nour block to 40%. Photo: courtesy of QR9iudjz0/Freeimages.com.
Following the approval, Eni has reduced its stake in the Nour block to 40%. The two deals were approved during a ceremony in Sharm El Sheik held by the Egyptian government in the presence of Petroleum Minister Tarek El Molla.
In November, the Italian oil and gas major agreed to sell a stake of 20% in the offshore Egyptian block to Mubadala Petroleum, a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi state-owned Mubadala Investment Company, for an undisclosed price. Earlier this month, Eni entered into a farm out agreement with BP to offload a stake of 25% to the latter in the concession.
Tharwa Petroleum is the other stakeholder in the Nour block with a 15% stake of the contractor’s share. The concession is in participation with Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS).
Eni, in a statement, said: “This transaction is part of a wider business alignment with BP internationally and further strengthens the relationship with Mubadala Petroleum in Egypt.”
The Nour block is located in the East Nile Delta Basin, about 50km offshore in the Eastern Mediterranean. In August 2018, Eni was granted the exploration license of the offshore block.
Contained in water depths of 50-400m, the offshore concession is spread across a total area of 739km2. Currently, Eni is undertaking drilling of an exploration well as planned in the first exploration period for the Nour block.
In June 2018, Mubadala Petroleum completed acquisition of a 10% stake in the Shorouk concession in offshore Egypt for $934m from Eni. Located in the Mediterranean Sea like the Nour block, the Shorouk concession contains the supergiant Zohr gas field.
Eni, currently holds a stake to 50% in the Shorouk block through its subsidiary IEOC.
After entering into production a year ago, the Zohr gas field is going through a ramp-up phase with an objective to achieve two billion cubic feet of gas per day (bcfd) of total installed treatment capacity by the end of 2018.