UAE-based investment fund Mubadala has bought a 10 percent stake in Egypt's giant Mediterranean Zohr gas field from Italian oil and gas company Eni, prior to a $934m deal reached in March.

The deal comes just a few months after the start of production at Zohr, a field that was discovered in August 2015 by Eni.

Since the discovery, Eni has sold a 10 per cent stake to BP, the UK oil and gas group, and a 30 per cent stake to Rosneft of Russia.

With the latest sale to Mubadala, Eni will be left with 50 per cent of Zohr. BP and Rosneft each have the option to buy five per cent more. 

The Zohr field, the largest natural gas discovery ever made in the Mediterranean Sea, is located off Egypt's northern coast within the Shorouk bloc, some 190 kilometres north of Port Said.

Last month, Eni, announced the start-up of the third production unit (T-2) of the Zohr gas field project, increasing its functional capacity to 1.2 bcf/d.

Field production is expected to rise to 2.7 bcf/d by the end of 2019, transforming Egypt into a regional power hub.