Egypt government approves oil and gas exploration deals -oil minister

CAIRO, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Egypt's government has approved five oil and gas drilling and exploration agreements with foreign companies ahead of parliament's final approval, Petroleum Minister Tarek El Molla said on Wednesday.

Four of the deals are gas exploration and drilling agreements between Egypt's state gas board EGAS and BP, Eni (LSE: 0N9S.L - news) , Total (LSE: 524773.L - news) , and Edison (Stuttgart: 1517689.SG - news) .

The fifth deal, which is an oil and gas exploration and drilling deal, is between state petroleum board EGPC and a local company. (Writing by Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by Eric Knecht)