Italy’s Eni has restarted drilling operations offshore Libya after a five-year break prompted by the Covid pandemic.
The National Oil Corporation of Libya said that the Italian supermajor had started drilling at Block 16/4 in the northwestern part of the country’s territorial waters and will soon complete work on the exploration well that was started back in 2020.
The return of Eni to Libya follows other Big Oil majors, including Shell and BP, which earlier this year signed new deals with the Libyan government for exploration works in oil and gas. Exxon has also signed its readiness to return to Libya.
In July, NOC signed a memorandum of understanding with BP under which the UK-based supermajor will conduct studies to assess the potential for hydrocarbon exploration and production in the Messla and Sarir fields, as well as in some surrounding exploration areas.
Separately, the Libyan oil corporation reached an agreement with Shell for the oil and gas major to evaluate hydrocarbon prospects and conduct a comprehensive technical and economic feasibility study to develop the al-Atshan field and other fields fully owned by the NOC, excluding any areas where third parties, other than the NOC and Shell, have rights.
The agreements suggest that the political situation in Libya is improving, at least to some extent, to motivate Big Oil to resume operations in the country. They are also instrumental for the Libyan government’s plans to considerably boost oil and gas production. Per an August update from the National Oil Corporation, the country’s oil production should rise to 2 million barrels daily by 2028. A month later, the National Oil Corporation eyed a hike to 2 million barrels daily by the end of this year. As of late September, Libya was producing close to 1.39 million barrels of crude daily, slightly down on August’s 1.4 million bpd.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com