The vice president of Petronas, Adnan Zainal Abidin, met with Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla to discuss the company’s projects in Egypt and its future plans, Egypt Oil & Gas reports.

During the meeting, Abidin and El Molla reviewed Petronas’ projects in Egypt and discussed deepwater extraction of natural gas in the Mediterranean.

Abidin noted that Egypt has become a country of interest to international oil companies (IOCs) due to recent developments in its oil and gas industry.

For his part, El Molla said that Petronas is a strong addition to Egypt’s oil and gas industry and brings significant technological expertise to its oil and gas projects. He added that the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources is ready to work with IOCs to facilitate their investment in the exploration and production of Egypt’s oil and gas reserves.

The meeting was also attended by the head of the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS), Osama El Bakly.

Petronas is the state-run oil and gas company of Malaysia. The company owns a 25% stake in the Burullus field. Work at the site had been delayed earlier this year, but is now set to resume in the fourth quarter of 2017 with production from it expected to begin late next year. It is estimated that the field will produce 350 to 400 million standard cubic feet per day (mscf/d) of natural gas.