LONDON: Britain on Wednesday added Egypt's Zohr gas ‍field, in which ‍Russian oil major Rosneft holds a 30% stake and ​London-based BP has a 10% holding, to a list of projects exempt from ⁠its Russia sanctions. Rosneft and Lukoil, Russia's top oil producers, were sanctioned by Britain ⁠and the ‌United States in October over their role in financing Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

The general licence, amended on Wednesday, ⁠now also allows payments and business operations linked to Zohr until October 2027. BP holds its stake in Zohr alongside majority stakeholder Eni, Rosneft and other partners.

The licence gave no reason for the ⁠exemption. The British government did not ​immediately respond to a request for comment.

Other projects exempted by the licence include other large oil ‍and gas ventures in Russia, Kazakhstan and the Caspian region.

In an October sanctions ​package, the United States included general licences that allow ongoing work in major energy ventures such as Tengizchevroil in Kazakhstan, which includes Lukoil as a partner, and the Caspian Pipeline Consortium based in Russia and Kazakhstan, which counts Rosneft among its shareholders.

International law firm Gowling WLG said such general licences act as wind-down or carve-out tools to allow certain projects to continue under sanctions, helping companies manage compliance and avoid abrupt disruption. Zohr is operated ⁠by Italy's Eni and with an estimated ‌30 trillion cubic feet (Tfc) of gas is the Mediterranean's biggest field, though production has fallen well below its peak in 2019. Eni has ‌pledged about $8 ⁠billion of investment in Egypt and recently launched a Mediterranean drilling campaign to ⁠boost output. (Reporting by Sam Tabahriti; Editing by Aidan Lewis)