Egypt signs oil, gas exploration deal with Shell, Petronas worth about $1 billion: statement

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt has signed a deep-water oil and gas exploration deal with Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.AS> and Malaysia's Petronas <PGAS.KL> worth around $1 billion for 8 wells in the country's West Nile Delta, the petroleum ministry said on Saturday.

The country also signed a second $10 million deal with Rockhopper <RKH.L>, Kuwait Energy <IPO-KEC.L> and Canada's Dover Corporation <DOV.N> for exploration in the Western Desert, a ministry statement said.

Egypt aims to be a regional hub for the trade of liquefied natural gas (LNG) after a string of major discoveries in recent years including Zohr, which holds an estimated 30 trillion cubic feet of gas.

(Reporting by Ehab Farouk and Ahmet Tolba; Writing by Nadine Awadalla, Editing by William Maclean)