Libya: Shell considers resuming activities in country
Shell is considering resuming operations in Libya by contributing to oilfield developments and increasing marketing and refining activities, Libya Herald reported on Tuesday, citing Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) as saying after a meeting with Shell representatives in Tripoli.
Shell had suspended its upstream operations in Libya in 2012, abandoning exploration activities in two blocks in the country because of disappointing results. At the time, NOC said that Shell’s negative assessment of the blocks’ prospects did not reflect reality.
Now Shell, whose representatives visited Libya, discussed the possibility to help oilfield development in the African OPEC member, NOC said, as quoted by Libya Herald.
The parties also discussed cooperation in refinery development and development of renewable energy projects, NOC’s chairman Mustafa Sanalla said, as per Libya Herald.
At the end of last year, NOC said that another European major, France’s TotalEnergies, planned to increase its investments in Libya’s oil industry.
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NOC added it had discussed with the company raising Libya’s production to “the highest levels.”
TotalEnergies, the new name of Total, has stakes in several Libyan oil fields, including the nation’s biggest, Sharara.
The field, along with many others, was shut down for more than eight months last year after groups affiliated with the eastern government blockade oil export terminals, which pushed Libya’s oil output from above 1 million bpd to less than 100,000 bpd.
Libya could boost its oil production to 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd) by the middle of 2022 if the industry has the necessary funding, Libya’s Oil Minister Mohamed Oun told Italian news agency Agenzia Nova in an interview published last week.
Currently, the North African producer exempted from the OPEC+ cuts pumps around 1.2 million bpd. According to secondary sources in OPEC’s latest Monthly Oil Market Report, Libya’s crude oil production averaged 1.163 million bpd in June, up from 1.157 million bpd in May.
