ITALY’S state-controlled oil and gas company, ENI, has been in Egypt since it signed deals with Gamal Abdel Nasser, the country’s then dictator, in 1954. Now one of the world’s biggest oil firms and the largest foreign oil and gas producer in Africa, ENI said on August 30th that it had discovered a vast gasfield off the Egyptian coast. The Zohr field is thought to contain 30 trillion cubic feet of gas, equivalent to 5.5 billion barrels of oil. If so, Zohr will almost double Egypt’s reserves, and be the largest gas discovery in the Mediterranean. More may be found on further exploration.
The find is a boon for ENI at a time of plunging oil prices, and for Egypt, which has gone from being an exporter to an importer of gas. It may prove positive for other energy firms operating in Egypt, though it undermines Israel’s plans to develop its own fields and export gas to its neighbour.
Claudio Descalzi, ENI’s boss, says the discovery vindicates the firm’s strategy of focusing on developing markets in which it has long been present, and on conventional production rather than newer methods such as the fracking of shale beds. He...
from The Economist: Business http://ift.tt/1OcAfnw
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