Italian energy group ENI said on Wednesday it had signed an agreement with Egypt on the production and transportation of oil and gas which would raise Egypt's profile as a supplier to the Middle East and Mediterranean region.
ENI and the two Egyptian state-owned oil companies EGPC and EGAS will establish a joint venture and work together on oil and gas upstream activities in Iraq and Gabon, the Italian company said late on Tuesday.
Egypt will also help ENI acquire rights to transport gas through the Arab Gas Pipeline, linking Egypt to Syria and Lebanon.
These initiatives will bring about the development in Egypt of a first rate gas 'hub' for the entire Mediterranean basin
"These initiatives will bring about the development in Egypt of a first rate gas 'hub' for the entire Mediterranean basin," the statement said.
In a separate statement on Wednesday, ENI also said it had begun the development of the Arcadia field, in the western desert of Egypt, 45 days after it was discovered.
The field is expected to produce 3,000 oil barrels per day by 2011.
ENI is the biggest foreign oil company working in Egypt, having produced 230,000 barrels per day in 2009, the company said.
Egypt’s Suez Canal revenue up by 12.5 percent
Meanwhile, Egypt’s Suez Canal’s revenues, one of Egypt’s key sources of foreign currency revenue, increased by 12.5 percent for the second half of the last fiscal year, as trade activity picked up following the global financial crisis.
The head of Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority, Adm. Ahmed Fadel told Egypt's official Middle East News Agency on Monday that canal revenues for the second half of fiscal 2009-2010, which ended in June, were $2.25 billion.
Fadel said total tonnage shipped through the canal spiked 20 percent in the first half of 2010 even as traffic through the canal only increased slightly.
Also, Egypt is projecting an economic growth rate of slightly over 5 percent this year.
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