Russia’s oil giant Rosneft has closed the deal to buy from Italy’s Eni a 30-percent stake in the offshore concession in Egypt where the giant Zohr gas field is located, for US$1.125 billion, the Russian firm said on Monday. Rosneft also refunded its share in past project costs to the Italian company, which discovered Zohr in 2015 and plans to start production by the end of this year. Zohr has a total potential of 850 billion cubic meters of gas in place and is the largest natural gas field ever discovered in the Mediterranean, according to Eni, which has also divested an additional 10 percent in the concession to supermajor BP. Under the initial terms of Eni’s deal with Rosneft from December last year, the Russian firm would pay US$1.125 billion and the pro-quota reimbursement of past expenditures, which amounted at the time to around US$450 million. In addition, […]