Libya’s Minister of Gas and Oil, Mohamed Aoun said that an alliance of international oil companies is currently discussing investment opportunities in the oil and gas sector in Libya.
The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) is among this alliance, Aoun told reporters on the sidelines of the eighth OPEC International Forum in Vienna, held from 5-6 July.
“They are an alliance of three companies: Italy’s Eni, France’s TotalEnergies, and UAE’s ADNOC. I think this alliance is led by Eni,” Aoun said, adding that the “investment will be for the development of a gas field without disclosing more details.”
Notably, Aoun has ruled out increasing gas exports to Europe at the present time, stating that this could be considered after five years.
He confirmed that the export of gas to Europe, via Italy through the Green Streamline has not stopped. This came during his participation in the OPEC conference in Vienna.
Aoun said that Libya has drawn up a short-term strategic plan for the oil and gas sector, aiming to raise its oil production to two million barrels per day. He explained that the plan includes developing newly discovered fields and raising the production capacity of the current fields. In addition to developing the infrastructure that was damaged.
Earlier, Aoun welcomed Saudi Arabia’s decision to extend the voluntary reduction of its oil production by one million barrels per day.
In a statement issued on Monday, Aoun hailed the decision as “a positive step for the market balance between global producers and consumers, and also for the global economy in general.”
The Saudi Press Agency (SPA) quoted a source in the Ministry of Energy as saying the decision has gone into implementation in July, to include the month of August that can be extended, and in effect. The Kingdom’s production for August 2023 will be approximately 9 million barrels per day.