CairoPetroleum Minister Karim Badawy told BP the deal would be rejected.

Cairo buys Israeli gas but blocked an Israeli-owned firm from holding Egyptian gas fields.

The state-run Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation holds pre-emption rights over Egypt’s fields, so it can block any ownership transfer before it closes.

BP may announce the deal anyway, sources said, to pressure the state firm before it can formally object.

BP must still submit any final deal to Egypt’s state petroleum company for approval before it can close.

How each outlet framed it
Mada Masr
cites government's national security imperatives and technical gaps in Energean's deep-water drilling capacity

Sources: Mada Masr