Eni, the Italian oil and gas giant, has startled the petroleum industry with the announcement of a supergiant gas discovery at its Zohr prospect in Egypt's offshore economic waters. The field could potentially hold 30 trillion cubic feet of lean natural gas in place, the largest ever made in the Mediterranean Sea.

After full development, the discovery will be able to satisfy Egypt's gas demand for decades to come.

Eni will immediately appraise the field with the aim of accelerating a fast track development of the discovery that will utilise at best the existing offshore and onshore infrastructures.

“It’s a very important day for Eni and its people. This outstanding result confirms our expertise and our technological innovation capacity with immediate operational application, and above all shows the strength of the cooperation spirit amongst all the company’s units which are at the foundation of our great successes. Our exploration strategy allows us to persist in the mature areas of countries which we have known for decades and has proved to be winning, reconfirming that Egypt has still great potential, said Claudio Descalzi, Eni's CEO.