TRIPOLI (AFP)--Libya Sunday awarded four gas exploration contracts to fuel giants Shell, Gazprom, Sonatrach and PKN Orlen - the first ever given to foreign firms as relations warm between Tripoli and the West.
Russia's OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) was given three blocs with a total area of 3,936 square kilometers while Algerian firm Sonatrach in association with Oil India and Indian Oil Corp. Ltd. (530965.BY) was awarded four blocks covering 6,934 square kilometers.
Anglo-Dutch company Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) was handed a two-block contract to explore a 1,790 square kilometer region, and Polish firm PKN Orlen SA (PKN.WA) was also awarded a two-block area to develop.
Gazprom was awarded blocks in the southern Ghadames basin beating off competition from Gaz de France (1020848.FR), Inpex (1605.TO) of Japan, Russian rival Lukoil (LUKOY), the U.K.'s BG (BG.LN) and PKN Orlen.
Gazprom's winning bid included ceding 90% of its eventual production to Libya's state-owned National Oil Corp., or NOC.
Sonatrach outbid Gaz de France, BG, PKN Orlen and Germany's RWE AG (RWEOY) and proposed 87% of its production go to the NOC.
Sunday's awards by the NOC followed an offer of a dozen contracts to explore 41 gas blocks in the Mediterranean, the Sirte basin in the north-central area of the country, Cyrenaica further east and Murzek and Ghadames in the south.
The blocks cover a total of 72,500 square kilometers, an area the size of Scotland.
It was the first time Libya invited tenders for natural gas exploration.
OPEC member Libya is the African continent's second-largest oil producer at 1.7 million barrels a day. It also has natural gas reserves estimated at 1,314 billion cubic meters.