UK exempts Egypt's Zohr gas field from Russia sanctions

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)