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.

Egypt is obliged to pay for LNG shipments within 15 days of a shipment's unloading. Now the Egyptian authorities are looking to extend that timeframe. Egypt used to get financial support from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and probably will still get it. However, due to lower energy prices, the support now is more limited. Egypt buys six to eight LNG cargoes monthly, each worth $20-$25 million. It is now in arrears of $350 million for that energy, one source estimated.

The agreement will involve the development of five trillion cubic feet of gas resources, as well as 55 million barrels of condensates. Production from WND is expected to be around 1.2 billion cubic feet a day (bcf/d) and all the produced gas will be fed into Egypt's national gas grid.

“The regional potential is being realised, and the Israeli gas discoveries look to play a key role in shaping the regional energy market,” said Yossi Abu, chief executive of Delek Drilling, in a statement announcing the Egyptian agreement. “The deal with Dolphinus is further proof of the political and economic benefits that may be derived through regional co-operation between states and energy companies.”

Eni has made a world class supergiant gas discovery at its Zohr Prospect, in the deep waters of Egypt. The discovery could hold a potential of 30 trillion cubic feet of lean gas in place covering an area of about 100 square kilometres.

The implementation of the terms of the signed document will allow Rosneft to access the high growth potential Egyptian gas market and deepen broader cooperation between the two companies. In addition the cooperation with EGAS will allow Rosneft to strengthen its position in the global LNG trading market.

Egypt’s average natural gas production declined this year to 4.395bn cubic feet per day, compared to about 4.6bn cubic feet in 2014.

The total volume of Egypt’s investments projected for the drilling and extracting natural gas has reached US$13 billion

BP PLC and a local partner have signed final agreements for the West Nile Delta (WND) natural gas project in Egypt, whereby $12 billion will be invested to develop 5 tcf of gas resources and 55 million bbl of condensates.

Amid the military escalation in Eastern Ukraine, the geopolitical arm-wrestling between Brussels and Moscow, and its impact on natural gas matters, can only get more complicated.