Eni not planning to divest recent gas discoveries in Egypt: oil ministry

Italian oil major Eni is not planning to divest some of its stakes in discoveries recently made in Egypt, an official source from the Egyptian oil ministry asserted Monday.

This comes after reports released by Wall Street Journal last Friday saying the Italian company plans to sell stakes in discoveries that have recently been made, especially the major gas fields in Egypt and Mozambique.

Earlier Reuters reported that government-owned Eni confirmed in its business plan for the period from 2016 to 2019, that it would cut total capital spending by 21 percent, as well as exploration budgets by about 18 percent, adding that it would at the same time move to sell assets to raise €7 billion (7.9 billion dollars).
In August 2015, Italy’s Eni announced it discovered gas reserves of up to 30 trillion cubic feet in the Zohr prospect in Egypt’s Mediterranean, making it the biggest gas discovery ever made in Egypt.

“Zohr is the largest gas discovery ever made in Egypt and in the Mediterranean Sea and could become one of the world’s largest natural-gas finds,” Eni said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the government source further told Amwal Al Ghad that Eni is currently working on the first phase of Zohr prospect. Officials from Eni had recently asserted to the Egyptian government the company’s full commitment to complete all the developmental drilling activities in the Shorouk concession area located in the deep waters of the Mediterranean.

Eni announced last February that it would finish drilling the second well in the Zohr field in the Shorouk concession area located in the deep waters of the Mediterranean by the next April, with a cost of approximately $100 million.