Eni’s Chief Executive Claudio Descalzi (photo) has said that the company is discussing with several parties regarding the reduction of its stake in the giant Zohr gas field offshore Egypt to 50%. This is coming after the company, which owns the whole concession area that includes its Zohr find, agreed to sell a 10% stake to BP for $375 million.

“We believe we can operate the field with 50 percent, that's my objective. This could happen fairly quickly. In our business, that could also mean a few months,” Descalzi said.

Discovered by Eni in 2015, Zohr is the biggest gas field in the Mediterranean with an estimated 850 Bcm of gas in place. First gas is expected from the field by the end of 2017.

Apart from the Zohr gas field, Eni also plans to sell a stake in Area 4 offshore Mozambique, where it holds an indirect 50%. According to Descalzi, the decision on Mozambique was ready but permits and the government were slowing things down. Sources have revealed that ExxonMobil has already finalized an agreement to acquire a stake in the concession but an announcement would not be made soon

In 2013, Eni sold 20% of the Area 4 licence to China's CNPC for $4.2 billion but ever since then oil and gas prices have fallen by more than half, Reuters reports.

Anita Fatunji