The agreed conditions include a consideration of US$1125 million and the pro quota reimbursement of past expenditures, which amount so far at approximately US$450 million. In addition, Rosneft has an option to buy a further 5% stake under the same terms.
This agreement further confirms the success of Eni’s 'dual exploration model' which, in parallel with an accelerated development of the hydrocarbons reserves, aims at early monetisation of the value through the dilution of the high participating interest owned in huge exploration discoveries. With this transaction, in the last four years the model has generated a total cash of approximately US$6.3 billion.
The completion of the transaction is subject to the fulfilment of certain standard conditions, including all necessary authorisations from Egypt’s authorities.
The Zohr field, located in the Shorouk Concession, 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 m3 of gas in place. On February 2015, the authorisation process for the development of field was completed, while the first gas is expected by the end of 2017.
Eni has been present in Egypt since 1954 where it operates through IEOC Production BV. The equity production was about 200 000 bbls of oil equivalent per day in 2015.
