CAIRO, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Italian energy giant Eni will invest 3 billion U.S. dollars to develop gas fields in Egypt, Eni's CEO Claudio Descalzi said Thursday.
"The company has already invested 8.4 billion dollars in Noroos and Zohr fields till now," said Descalzi, noting that 70 percent of the company's global investments are made in Egypt.
Descalzi made the remarks during his meeting with Egyptian Petroleum Minister Tarek al-Molla. They discussed the progress of the development of the offshore Zohr gas field, which was discovered by Eni in 2015.
Molla said last week that the production at Zohr will hit 1.75 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d) by August.
On May 30, Molla said that the field is expected to produce 2 bcf/d by the end of 2018, which will double the previously expected production.
The Zohr field, the largest natural gas discovery in the Mediterranean, is located off Egypt's northern coast within the Shorouk block, some 190 km north of the Suez Canal city of Port Said.
The field's production is expected to rise to 2.7 bcf/d by the end of 2019, transforming Egypt into a regional power hub.
The Noroos field was also discovered in 2015 in the Nile Delta offshore area.