INA, the leading Croatian oil and gas group, has been given "an exploration license for the East Bir El-Nus concession (Block WD-8), located in Egypt’s Western Desert," the group stated on Thursday.

“This is a follow-up to INA’s activities on this key foreign market for the company in terms of oil and gas exploration and production,” the press release says.

“INA enters the new exploration license as a 50% partner, while the remaining 50% is held by Energean, which will also be the operator. In the coming period, Energean and INA will finalize the license agreement with the Egyptian Government and the Egyptian national oil company, and before it enters into force it will have to be confirmed by the Egyptian Parliament.”

In their bid, INA and Energean committed to conduct a 180-square-kilometre 2D seismic survey and a 200-square-kilometre 3D seismic survey, followed by at least two exploration wells.