The Chairman of the Sirte Oil and Gas Production Company, Mohamed Al-Fantari received a delegation from US oil company, Schlumberger. They discussed the expansion of the energy company’s operations in Libya.
The Sirte Company said in a statement on Thursday that the meeting discussed aspects of “constructive cooperation,” according to the statement. The two sides held talks about “expanding fruitful cooperation to resolve surface equipment problems and their positive impact on increasing production capacity.” They also reviewed emissions and radiation reduction.
The meeting is part of the “continuous communication between Sirte and Schlumberger, according to the statement. The meeting aims to overcome obstacles and difficulties facing the implementation of joint projects between the two companies,” the statement concluded.
Notably, the Chairman of Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC), Farhat Bengdara said that they have agreed with Italy’s Eni and the British Petroleum Company (BP) to begin extracting natural gas from an offshore gas field, believed to be bigger than Egypt’s Zohr field.
In statements to Skynews Arabia on the sidelines of an industry conference in Abu Dhabi, Bengdara said that Eni will invest $8 billion dollars to develop natural gas fields in western Libya.
He added that Libya expects between $35 billion and $37 billion in oil revenue this year, and that it has proven natural gas reserves that exceed 80 trillion cubic feet.
Eni has been working together with the Italian government to clinch deals with alternative gas suppliers, in the face of increasing uncertainty over supplies from Russia.
According to the Upstream oil website, this comes at a time when Libya aims to complete the review of its financial system by the end of 2022, to attract investors. Libya is discussing projects worth $7.5 billion dollars, which aim to provide additional gas to Europe, which is attempting to wean off of Russian gas supplies.
The former CEO of Eni, Paolo Scaroni said that the Italian government has taken steps to import gas from Mozambique, Congo, and Algeria. He added that there is also a chance to increase oil production in Libya to compensate.
In an interview with the La Verita newspaper, Scaroni added that Rome is not ready to give up Russian gas at present. He noted that this would require greater cooperation with Africa.