Zohr Gas Field
Egypt's Supergiant & the Cyprus Play
Discovered by Eni in August 2015, Zohr is the largest gas find ever made in the Mediterranean — ~30 Tcf in place. It rewrote the region's geology, turned Egypt briefly self-sufficient, and its facilities are set to process Cyprus's Cronos gas on the way to Damietta LNG.
Overview
In August 2015 Eni's Zohr-1X wildcat, drilled in the 3,752 km² Shorouk concession about 190 km north of Port Said, found a giant gas column in a Miocene carbonate build-up — a play type nobody had targeted in the Eastern Mediterranean before. At roughly 30 trillion cubic feet of gas in place, Zohr instantly became the largest discovery ever made in the Mediterranean Sea, in around 1,450 m of water.
Eni operates the field with 50%, having sold down stakes to Rosneft (30%), BP (10%) and Mubadala (10%). Development was exceptionally fast: first gas came in December 2017, less than two and a half years after discovery, via subsea wells tied back to an onshore treatment plant near Port Said.
Zohr changed the regional map in two ways. Economically it briefly restored Egypt's gas self-sufficiency and revived its idle LNG plants at Idku and Damietta. Geologically it proved a new carbonate play whose trend runs straight into the Cyprus EEZ.
Updated July 2026 · Sources: Eni, Offshore Technology, NS Energy
Production: Peak, Decline, Recovery
Zohr ramped up at record pace, reaching about 2.7 bcf/d by August 2019 against a plateau target of 3.2 bcf/d. From the early 2020s, however, output declined faster than expected — reportedly aggravated by water encroachment into the reservoir — and had fallen to roughly 1.9 bcf/d by early 2024. The slide at Zohr was the single biggest driver of Egypt's return to being a net gas importer.
Since 2025 Eni has been fighting the decline with an infill drilling campaign: the Zohr-6 well came online in August 2025 adding about 65 mmcf/d, followed by Zohr-9 at around 70 mmcf/d, alongside reservoir and network optimization. Output has recovered toward 2 bcf/d, and Egyptian officials say the field still delivers about 23% of national gas production — but nobody expects a return to the 2019 peak. That supply gap is precisely why Egypt has contracted gas from Israel's Leviathan and from Cyprus's Aphrodite and Cronos fields.
Updated July 2026 · Sources: Egypt Oil & Gas, Eni, Ecofin Agency
The Cyprus Connection
Zohr's discovery well did more for Cyprus exploration than any well drilled in Cypriot waters. By proving that Miocene carbonate build-ups in the region could hold supergiant gas volumes, it sent Eni chasing the same play across the median line into Cyprus Block 6 — barely 100 km away. The result was three discoveries in the same geology: Calypso (2018), Cronos (2022) and Zeus (2022).
The link is now becoming physical. Under the February 2025 Host Government Agreement between Cyprus, Egypt, Eni and TotalEnergies, Cronos gas will be tied back by a ~90 km subsea pipeline to Zohr's existing facilities in Egyptian waters, then processed onshore and liquefied at Damietta LNG for export to Europe at around 5 bcm per year. The development plan was approved by the Cyprus cabinet in May 2026, with first gas targeted for 2028.
For Egypt, Cypriot gas backfills Zohr's decline and keeps its LNG plants busy; for Cyprus, Zohr's spare processing capacity is the cheapest and fastest route to market. It is the clearest example of the East Med's emerging logic: shared geology, shared infrastructure.
Updated July 2026 · Sources: Eni (Feb 2025 HGA release), TotalEnergies, MEES
Frequently Asked Questions
How big is the Zohr gas field?
Zohr holds around 30 trillion cubic feet of gas in place, making it the largest gas discovery ever made in the Mediterranean Sea. It sits in the Shorouk concession offshore Egypt, in about 1,450 m of water.
Who owns the Zohr gas field?
Eni operates Zohr with a 50% stake, alongside Rosneft (30%), BP (10%) and Mubadala Energy (10%). Eni discovered the field in August 2015 and brought it online in December 2017 — a record-fast development for a deepwater field of its size.
Is Zohr production declining?
Yes. Zohr peaked around 2.7 bcf/d in August 2019 (against a 3.2 bcf/d plateau target) and had fallen to roughly 1.9 bcf/d by early 2024. An Eni infill drilling campaign since 2025 — including the Zohr-6 and Zohr-9 wells — has pushed output back toward 2 bcf/d; the field still supplies about a fifth of Egypt's gas.
What does Zohr have to do with Cyprus?
Zohr proved that a giant carbonate reservoir play exists in the region, which led Eni to explore the same geology across the border in Cyprus Block 6 — resulting in the Calypso, Cronos and Zeus discoveries. Cronos gas will be tied back ~90 km to Zohr's facilities in Egyptian waters and liquefied at Damietta LNG for export to Europe.