Beach offered £110m for the stake but the completion of the deal hinges on approval from Cairo and the waiver of pre-emption rights by one of the other partners in the concession, the UK’s BP.

The 1,174 square-kilometre block, which is expected to produce 10,000 barrels a day (b/d), is split between Egypt Kuwait Holding and BP Egypt, along with a smaller stake owned by the local Commercial International Bank.

Earlier this year, Egypt Kuwait Holding, an investment arm of Kuwait's Kharafi group, said it had signed an agreement to buy a 5 per cent stake in Petrodar, a Sudanese oil company, for $400m.