Egypt, Algeria inked five agreements to boost cooperation in the petroleum and butane gas domains within the coming period.

Head of the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) Hani Dahi said that the five deals were agreed upon during talks between Prime Minister Hisham Qandil and Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflicka in Algiers on October 22.

Dahi, who signed the deals with general director of Algeria's Sonatrach government-owned company Abdel Hamid Zarfeen, said the first agreement aims at increasing Algerian butane gas imports to Egypt from 800,000 tons to one million as of December, hoping it will reach 1.500 million in 2014.

The second agreement provides for establishing a joint company comprising the EGPC and Sonatrach Company to work in the petroleum exploration and production domains, Dahi said, adding that the new company might work outside the two countries' borders.

The third deal calls for setting up another company in the engineering studies and economic feasibility studies in the oil, gas and petrochemical domains, he said.