Italian oil and gas company Eni has agreed to sell a 10% stake in its Shorouk concession, offshore Egypt, to BP for $375m.
The minority stake will give BP access to Eni’s supergiant gas field Zohr. The British multinational oil and gas company can also raise its stake to 15% under the same terms as per the terms.
Eni currently holds 100% stake in the Shorouk concession offshore project through its subsidiary IEOC.
As per the deal terms, Eni will also be reimbursed by BP with around $150m as part of past expenditure.
BP group chief executive Bob Dudley said that the new stake would complement the company’s existing Egyptian business.
Dudley added: “We already have a strong partnership with Eni in Egypt and look forward to working closely with them to efficiently bring these important resources to the Egyptian market.
“BP has now been in Egypt for over 50 years and we continue to see opportunities to further develop our extensive activities here. Beyond Zohr, the first phase of our major West Nile Delta project is on schedule to begin production next year and the fast-tracked development of the Atoll gas field is expected to come on stream in 2018.”
The deal will be closed subject to fulfilment of standard conditions and necessary Egyptian authorizations.
According to Eni, the stake sale is part of its “dual exploration” strategy to raise €7bn of asset sales by 2019 through dilution of stakes in recent material discoveries.
The Zohr field, one of the recent discoveries of Eni, came about in 2015.
Potentially filled up with 850bn cubic metres of gas, the Zohr Field is the largest ever natural gas field discovered in the Mediterranean region, said Eni.
The Italian company secured the authorization process for developing the field in February and expects the first gas from the field to be generated by the end of next year.
Image: Eni currently holds 100% stake in the Shorouk concession offshore project. Photo: courtesy of Eni.