The two countries also signed agreements to develop a 2250 Megawatt electricity plant with a cost of $2.2 billion, set up agriculture complexes in Sinai and develop a canal to transfer water, a statement from the Presidency said.

Total capital investment in the oil and natural gas sector is forecast to decline to $31 billion in 2016, down from a record $81 billion in 2014.

The framework agreement includes opportunities for joint investment in future oil and gas exploration, and possible oil and gas trading deals, including LNG.

The Rockefeller Family Fund said on Wednesday it would divest from fossil fuels as quickly as possible and "eliminate holdings" of Exxon Mobil Corp, saying the oil company associated with the family fortune has misled the public about climate change risks.

Royal Dutch Shell has confirmed it is reviewing the case for selling some of its North Sea assets in the wake of its £35bn takeover of rival oil and gas producer, BG Group.

Neil Atkinson, head of the IEA’s Oil Industry and Markets Division, said in Singapore on Wednesday. About $300 billion is needed to sustain the current level of production, and nations including the U.S., Canada, Brazil, and Mexico are facing difficulty in keeping up investments, he said.

U.S. companies are welcome to invest in Iran's oil and gas industry, the Iranian oil minister said.

Sparking fears for the long-term future of the industry, the UK upstream segment is expected to approve fewer than £1 billion in spending on new North Sea projects compared with an average of £8 billion/year over the past 5 years, according to Oil & Gas UK’s 2016 Activity Survey.

Mining and exploration investment declined 35% in 2015, the second largest year-over-year decline since the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) began reporting the series in 1948.

“To develop the joint fields and enhance recovery of oil reservoirs as well as secure development targets, we need investment totaling 200 billion dollars,”