Egypt’s president orders expanding gas exploration activities with Italy’s Eni

CAIRO – 16 January 2023: Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has ordered expanding gas exploration, search, and production activities and efforts between the Ministry of Petroleum and Eni in a meeting on Monday with the Italian energy company’s CEO Claudio Descalzi.

During the meeting, Sisi reviewed Eni’s current and future plans for gas exploration and production in Egypt in light of the country’s position as a regional hub for the circulation and production of energy and liquified natural gas (LNG), the Presidency said in a statement.

The presidency added that such position is becoming increasingly important in light of the current global developments regarding the energy crisis given the promising opportunities and potentials in Egypt in this field.

Sisi ordered expanding the activities and efforts of gas exploration, search, and production in coordination between the Ministry of Petroleum and Eni with the aim of achieving optimum use of Egypt’s natural resources and gas and energy sector.

This comes in continuation of the fruitful path of cooperation between the state and Eni, Sisi added.

Minister of Petroleum Tarek El-Molla attended the meeting.

Egypt and Eni have been cooperating over the past decades with the Italian company being behind Egypt’s largest-ever gas discovery of the giant Zohr gas field.

Egypt has been working to act as a hub for LNG exportation with an annual capacity of 12.2 million metric tons as of July 2022, according to Statista.

In a press briefing last week, El-Molla said Egypt’s exports of LNG have grown to about 8 million tons worth about $8-8.5 billion throughout 2022.

In June last year, Egypt, the European Union, and Israel signed a gas agreement under which Egypt will liquify the Israeli natural gas and send it to Europe, a step that comes while the EU seeks to look for an alternative to Russian energy imports.