Italy's Eni announced Wednesday that the company finalized a 10 percent stake sale in the Shorouk concession offshore Egypt to Mubadala Petroleum, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mubadala Investment Company, based in the United Arab Emirates.

The Shorouk concession is home to the Zohr gas field, a statement said, adding Eni, through its subsidiary IEOC, now held a 50 percent stake of the contractor’s share, while Rosneft held 30 percent, BP 10 percent and Mubadala Petroleum 10 percent.

Following a start-up less than two and a half years from discovery in August 2015, the Zohr project is now in its ramp-up phase with the aim of reaching 2 billion cubic feet of gas per day (bcfd) of total installed treatment capacity by the end of the year, and a production plateau of 2.7 bcfd by the end of 2019.

According to the company, Zohr's current production is over 1.1 bcfd, corresponding to 200,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

The project is executed by Petrobel, the operating company jointly owned by Eni and the state company Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), on behalf of Petroshorouk, jointly owned by the Contractor (Eni and its partners) and by the state company Egyptian Natural Gas holding Company (EGAS).

Eni has been present in Egypt since 1954, where it operates through its subsidiary IEOC Production BV.

Mubadala Investment Company is owned by the government of Abu Dhabi.

By Gulsen Cagatay

Anadolu Agency

energy@aa.com.tr