A large-scale project and alternative routes for gas pipelines are being studied by Libya. Although the country does not currently produce enough gas, as its total gas production was 9.23 billion cubic meters in 2021, against an internal demand of approximately 6 billion cubic meters, according to Italy’s Nova Agency.
Nova said those figures could change, but only with the discovery of new huge gas fields. ENI and BP have several onshore and offshore explorations in the pipeline. TotalEnergies is able to construct new combined cycle power plants, or large plants from renewable sources of energy, in particular solar.
The Chairman of Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC), Farahat Bengdara told CNBC that Libya is studying a project that could connect gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean to Greece, passing through Egypt.
Bengdara also announced that Eni and BP would be investing huge amounts of money in the development of offshore and onshore natural gas fields.
In theory, Libya can export up to 10 billion cubic meters of gas per year to Italy through the Greenstream. This is the gas pipeline that connects Sicily to Eni’s gas fields in southwestern Libya. However, just 3.23 billion cubic meters arrived, compared to the 4.46 billion of the previous year.
In April, Italy’s Ambassador in Tripoli, Giuseppe Buccino said that “Libya can increase gas production by 30% in one year with investments not exceeding $1 billion dollars. Provided that there is a strong and shared executive authority.” For months there has been a tug-of-war between two rival governments on either side of the country.
Nova suggests two ways out of this problem: First, the formation of a new government that unites the two rival administrations, with the risk, however, that we will arrive at the paradoxical situation of having three governments; Second, an agreement between those who really have power, in the East and West of Libya.