United Kingdom removes Egypt's Zohr project with Rosneft participation from sanctions by expanding corresponding licence

MOSCOW. Dec 17 (Interfax) - The United Kingdom has removed Egypt's Zohr gas project with the participation of Rosneft from the scope of sanctions, the UK Treasury said.

Previously, international projects in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan with the participation of Lukoil and Rosneft were exempted from UK sanctions until October 14, 2027, including the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), Tengizchevroil, Shah Deniz, the South Caucasus Gas Pipeline, the Azerbaijan Gas Supply Company and Karachaganak.

The Zohr field was discovered by Eni in 2015. Its area is 231 square kilometers, the sea depth is 1.2 km to 1.7 km and the gas reservoir depth is 3.4 km to 4 km. It is one of the largest on the Mediterranean shelf, with geological reserves estimated at 850 billion cubic meters. Rosneft became a participant in the project in October 2017. The first gas from the field was obtained in December 2017. In August 2019, production capacity was increased to the design level of 76 million cubic meters per day.

Production at the project was 1.3 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d) in 2018, 2.4 bcf/d in 2019, 2.2 bcf/d per day in 2020, 2.7 bcf/d in 2021, 2.5 bcf/d in 2022 and 2.1 bcf/d in 2023.

The project is being implemented under the concession terms of Eni S.p.A (50%), Rosneft (30%), BP (10%) and Mubadala Petroleum (10%).

The United Kingdom placed Rosneft on the sanctions list on October 15.