(Adds new bidding round expected in first half 2016)
CAIRO, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Egypt has awarded four new licencesto explore for oil and gas off its Mediterranean coast, weeksafter Eni's giant Zohr gas find piqued freshinternational interest in the area.
Egypt's state gas company EGAS said in a statement it hadawarded one licence to Britain's BP and one to Italy'sEdison. A consortium involving BP and Eni's Egyptiansubsidiary had also picked up a bloc as had another consortiuminvolving Eni, BP and France's Total.
EGAS head Khaled Abdel Badie told Reuters after theannouncement that Egypt was preparing to launch a new biddinground for offshore gas exploration in the Mediterranean in thefirst half of 2016.
Eni announced in late August it had discovered the largestknown gas field in the Mediterranean off the Egyptiancoast.
The Italian major predicts the Zohr field could hold 30trillion cubic feet of gas, covering an area of about 100 squarekilometres (39 square miles). It could be a game-changer forEgypt, whose $3.5 billion debts to foreign energy companies hadmade it increasingly difficult to attract major investments.
Egypt, which once exported gas, has become a net energyimporter over the last few years as production has failed tokeep up with domestic demand.
Not only has Egypt diverted to the domestic market gasoriginally earmarked for export, but it has failed to keep uppayments to the foreign energy companies producing it.
The crisis had discouraged international energy companiesfrom making major investments in Egypt's oil and gas sector at atime when it needed to make new discoveries and boost output.
The Zohr find, however, is likely to encourage oil majors tolook more carefully at the eastern Mediterranean region, whichhas yielded some significant discoveries in recent years.
The EGAS statement said the new concessions would see thecompanies making total investments of at least $306 million,conducting seismic studies and sinking eight discovery wells.
(Reporting by Abdel Rahman Adel, writing by Lin Noueihed,editing by Adrian Croft and David Evans)