Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi reviewed on Monday with Italian Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi the company’s plans for the exploration and production of gas in Egypt amid the country’s plans to become a regional energy hub, the Egyptian presidency said.

In a meeting in Cairo attended by Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El-Molla, Descalzi noted that Egypt’s position as a regional hub for the circulation and production of energy and liquefied gas is becoming increasingly important in light of the global energy crisis.

According to Eni’s statement about the meeting, Descalzi also discussed Eni’s ongoing and future plans for the energy transition and decarbonisation of the Egyptian energy sector, including initiatives to substitute gas with renewable energy, circular economy projects, carbon capture and storage, production of agro-feedstock for biorefining, and others.

From his side, El-Sisi directed the government to expand exploration and production in coordination with Eni, aiming to leverage Egypt’s natural resources and to continue the fruitful cooperation between Egypt and the Italian company.

The meeting comes one day after ENI’s announcement that it had made a “significant” gas discovery at the Nargis-1 exploration well in the Nargis Offshore Area Concession in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Eni, which has been operating in Egypt since 1954, has also been awarded exploration rights in North Rafah, North El-Fayrouz, Northeast El-Arish, Tiba and Bellatrix-Seti East.

The company is presently the leading producer in Egypt with an equity production of hydrocarbons of approximately 350,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, according to their website.

Eni's most notable discovery in Egypt was the Zohr Gas Field in 2015, which allowed the country to achieve self-sufficiency in gas by 2018.

Egypt's gas export revenues have increased eight-fold since 2014, as the country aims to become a major gas supplier to the European continent, especially since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukrainian conflict.