Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on December 17, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 20, 2026
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The UK has exempted Egypt's Zohr gas field from Russia sanctions, allowing operations until 2027. Rosneft and BP hold stakes.
LONDON, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Britain on Wednesday added Egypt's Zohr gas field, in which Russian oil major Rosneft holds a 30% stake and London-based BP has a 10% holding, to a list of projects exempt from its Russia sanctions.
Rosneft and Lukoil, Russia's top oil producers, were sanctioned by Britain and the United States in October over their role in financing Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
The general licence, amended on Wednesday, now also allows payments and business operations linked to Zohr until October 2027. BP holds its stake in Zohr alongside majority stakeholder Eni, Rosneft and other partners.
The licence gave no reason for the exemption. The British government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Other projects exempted by the licence include other large oil and gas ventures in Russia, Kazakhstan and the Caspian region.
Zohr is operated by Italy's Eni and with an estimated 30 trillion cubic feet (Tfc) of gas is the Mediterranean's biggest field, though production has fallen well below its peak in 2019.
Eni has pledged about $8 billion of investment in Egypt and recently launched a Mediterranean drilling campaign to boost output.
(Reporting by Sam Tabahriti; Editing by Aidan Lewis)
The Zohr gas field is the largest natural gas field in the Mediterranean, located off the coast of Egypt. It has an estimated reserve of 30 trillion cubic feet of gas and is operated by Eni, with significant stakes held by BP and Rosneft.
Rosneft is a Russian state-owned oil company and one of the largest oil producers in the world. It plays a significant role in the global energy market and has been involved in various international oil and gas projects.
BP holds a 10% stake in the Zohr gas field, which is operated by Eni. BP's involvement contributes to the development and production of natural gas from this significant energy resource.
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