Petroleum Intelligence Weekly announced Egypt to be a must-have petroleum investment destination for international oil companies (IOCs) due to the Zohr giant gas discovery made by Eni in 2015, which put Egypt back on the investments map.

Egypt’s attractive geology, along with financial system amendments and flexible measures in natural gas pricing, encouraged foreign investments, leading IOCs like Shell; BP and Eni to double their shares and ExxonMobil to enter the Egyptian market for the fist time, Akhbar El Yom reported.

Egypt has recently announced results of the bid rounds that were announced last year with the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) and the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS), on the sidelines of the Egypt Petroleum Show (EGYPS 2019), which showed a major change in the country’s economics.

The North African country has recently paid $5.1 billion to IOCs in arrears, which is, along with the country’s geology and infrastructure, attracted investments as the Egyptian infrastructure opens the door for IOCs to quickly commercialize oil and gas discoveries.

Moreover, Egypt is growing fast in the shale industry, climbing through international project ranks.