This year saw a not so private spat develop between Egypt and its key upstream player Eni, with the Italian firm shelving two planned sidetrack wells at the key Zohr gas field until Cairo paid off a growing receivables bill (MEES, 21 June). Plans to drill the two wells have now been revived along with relations which was further signaled with Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi paying an official visit to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on 28 October.
MEES understands the commitment to kick off Zohr drilling was linked to Eni’s mid-September receipt of a chunky $600mn payment from Cairo, which shelled out $1.2bn in total to IOCs including Western Desert-focused Apache and UK major BP. (CONTINUED - 828 WORDS)
