Eni signs concession agreement to begin exploration at offshore Noor gas field: Eni announced yesterday signing a new concession agreement with the Egyptian government to begin exploration activities at the offshore Noor gas field in the East Mediterranean, the company said in a statement (pdf). The USD 105 mn agreement will see Eni drill two exploratory wells in the 739 sqm field during 2H2018. Eni holds an 85% stake in the concession alongside Tharwa Petroleum Company, which holds 15%. Eni had denied last month that it made a massive gas discovery at the Noor gas field, after news reports suggested that Noor could contain around 90 tcf of gas reserves, or 3x as much gas as the supergiant Zohr field. Egyptian Oil Minister Tarek El Molla had also downplayed the reports at the time, saying that seismic studies were not yet complete.

Eni also signed two other agreements with the EGPC and other international oil companies yesterday. A USD 22.5 mn agreement was signed with BP to drill four wells in the Nile Delta’s Greater Nooros Area, while an USD 11.7 mn agreement with Croatia’s INA to drill nine wells in the Western Desert’s Ras Qattara concession was also signed, according to an Oil Ministry statement. After the signing, El Molla indicated that the government would strike more oil and gas agreements in the near future as it moves ahead with plans to turn Egypt into a regional energy export hub.

Meanwhile, Eni plans to bring its total production of crude oil and natural gas from its various concessions to 600k boe/d, sources from Eni-EGPC JV Belayim Petroleum Company (Petrobel) tell Amwal Al Ghad. The Zohr and Nooros gas fields currently account for the lion’s share of the company’s natural gas output, while crude oil production is concentrated in the Gulf of Suez and Mediterranean concessions. The sources did not disclose the expected timeline for these new production targets.