Egypt opens Eni gas field

Cairo : Egypt’s president has accused unknown parties of being behind the 2016 murder of an Italian researcher, alleging a plot to sabotage bilateral relations during a ceremony marking the start of a massive gas project with Italian energy firm Eni.

President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi spoke during the Wednesday ceremony in Port Said to inaugurate the offshore Zohr field, touted as the largest ever in the Mediterranean. Thanking Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi directly, el-Sissi said: “Do you now know why they wanted to undermine relations between Egypt and Italy? So we don’t get to be here.” El-Sissi also repeated his pledge that Egypt would help bring the killers of the 28-year-old researcher to justice, and that his family in Italy should know that “we will not forget this incident, until we find the culprits and bring them to account.”