Eni has been awarded five new exploration licenses in the Egyptian offshore and onshore by the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, the company said in a statement.

The announcement followed Eni’s successful participation in the “Egypt International Bid Round for Petroleum Exploration and Exploitation” which was previously announced by the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) and the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company through Egypt Upstream Gateway (EUG).

The licenses are located in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea (Blocks EGY-MED-E5 and EGY-MED-E6), the Gulf of Suez (Block EGY-GOS-13), and the Western Desert (Blocks Egy-WD- 7 and EGY-WD-9). The total acreage is about 8,410 sqkm.

It is worth noting that Eni is the operator at four licenses. It acquired 50% of the exploration rights of blocks EGY-MED-E5 and Egy-WD- 7 equally with BP and APEX International Energy, respectively. In addition, Eni subsidiary (IEOC Production BV) has 100% interest in blocks EGY-MED-E6, EGY-GOS-13, and EGY-WD-9.

“The licenses are placed within prolific basins with proven petroleum systems able to generate liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons and can also rely on nearby existing producing and processing facilities and on a demanding market that will allow a quick valorization of the potential exploration discoveries,” said the statement from the company.

Eni elaborated that the bid results are in line with the company’s strategy to keep exploring and producing gas in order to sustain the Egyptian local market and contribute to LNG exports, thanks to the recent restart of the Damietta LNG plant.

Eni, currently being the country’s main producer, has an equity hydrocarbon production of approximately 350,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day and has been in been present in Egypt since 1954.