Egypt has three major oil and gas deals worth a total of $9.2 billion underway, after attracting investment of about $2.9 billion for oil and gas exploration in just over a year, a spokesman for the energy ministry told Reuters.

Since November 2013, Egypt has concluded 53 new agreements with international companies to explore for oil and gas amounting to investments of about $2.9 billion, the spokesman said, adding: “We have three other agreements underway worth $9.2 billion.”

Big energy companies Eni, BP, Shell and Total have all announced new exploration deals in Egypt over the past month.

The country has emerged as a major new oil and gas market as the government looks to ease the worst energy crunch in decades.

In January alone, Egypt clinched 15 new exploration deals, amended two more, and closed major tenders to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Algeria to Russia, opening up to global energy pricing norms as the government seeks to scrap crippling subsidies by 2019.