Rosneft buys into Eni’s giant gas discovery (Egypt)

Italian oil and gas company Eni is trimming its stake in the giant Zohr discovery, offshore Egypt. Namely, the company will sell a 30 percent stake in the Shourouk Concession, containing the Zohr, to Rosneft.

The sale, announced on Monday, follows a recent divestment of a ten percent stake in the license to BP, the completion of which is ongoing.

Rosneft will pay $1.12 billion, plus a reimbursement of Eni’s past expenditures, which so far amount to $450 million.

In addition, Rosneft has an option to buy a further 5% stake under the same terms, Eni said on Monday.

The Zohr field was discovered by Eni in August 2015 and is the largest natural gas field ever found in the Mediterranean, with a total potential of 850 billion cubic meters of gas in place. On February 2015, the authorization process for the development of the field was completed, while the first gas is expected by the end of 2017.

As for Rosneft, it on Monday announced the sale of the stake in the company for 10 billion euros to a consortium of Glencore and a Qatari investment fund. More here: https://bit.ly/2heQtFH