The upstream unit of German utility RWE AG (RWE.XE), RWE Dea, Tuesday said it has been awarded a new crude oil exploration concession in Libya.
The concession in for the exploration in the Cyrenaica plateau and was awarded in the latest licensing round in Libya.
The agreement for the new concession was signed at the headquarters of the Libyan state-owned National Oil Corporation, in Tripoli Jan. 23.
Concession 58 is located roughly 240 kilometers east of the city of Benghazi and is subdivided into four partial blocks comprising a total area of 10,289 square kilometers.
RWE Dea has been awarded 100% of the concession and is the operator.
As a minimum commitment, the work program for the following five years comprises the acquisition of 4,600 kilometers of 2D seismic data and the drilling of two exploratory wells with a view to examining the gas potential in the area.
In some wells that were drilled in the region of concession 58 in the 1960s, good gas potential was already proved to exist.
RWE Dea has been engaged as an operator in Libya since June 2003, in six fully-owned concessions.
The concessions, totaling more than 30,000 square kilometers are located in the Sirte basin, on the Cyrenaica plateau and in the Kufra basin.
In the course of exploration activities carried out to date, four oil discoveries have already been made in concessions NC193 and NC195 in the Sirte basin.
Additional studies are under way on confirming the reserves discovered and developing concepts for commercially viable production.
RWE Dea is currently utilizing four drilling rigs in Libya.
The new agreement for concession 58 will give RWE Dea further opportunity to extend its strategic position in Libya and to continue its long-term cooperation with the NOC in the field of exploration and production of hydrocarbons.