Egypt has signed a deepwater oil and gas exploration deal with Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A) and Malaysia’s Petronas worth around $1 billion for eight wells in the country’s West Nile Delta, the petroleum ministry said on Sept. 15.

The country also signed a second $10 million deal with Rockhopper, Kuwait Energy and Canada’s Dover Corp. for exploration in the Western Desert, a ministry statement said.

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