CAIRO  - Italy's Eni and Egypt's Tharwa company will drill the first exploratory oil well in northern Sinai's offshore Noor field next week, an official at Egypt's gas company EGAS said on Thursday.

Egypt's cabinet approved in March a $105 million deal to explore the North Sinai region of the Mediterranean Sea.

(Reporting by Ahmed Ismail, writing by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise) ((Sami.Aboudi@thomsonreuters.com; +20223948181;))