Italian energy company ENI, the largest producer in Libya, said it has discovered gas and condensates offshore, in the Bouri North exploration prospect in Area D.
ENI is the operator of Contract Area D offshore Libya with a 100% working interest in the exploration phase. The well represents the second discovery made by ENI in the Libyan offshore Area D since the beginning of 2015.
The company said it had made the natural gas and condensate discovery about 137 kilometres away from the coastline. Production tests have given a preliminary flow rate from the well at 1,340 barrels of oil equivalent per day. ENI has estimated the well will be able to produce at least 3,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day at its peak.
Oil and gas assets have become favorite targetsin a four-year long conflict between Libya’s rival governments that kicked off when former dictatorMuammar Gaddafi was overthrown in 2011. Work stoppages and terrorist attacks have only added to the country’s woes. Meanwhile, the so-called Islamic State terrorists have gained a foothold in the war-torn country.
Before NATO forces intervened in Libyan civil war in 2011, the country was producing more than 1 million barrels per day. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in its latest market report said production from member-state Libya was around 300,000 barrels per day.
Italy received nearly 10% of its natural gas from Libya’s Green Stream pipeline before the Libyan civil war beganin February 2011. ENI started production from Libyan offshore fields feeding that pipeline in 2004.
With a legacy extending back to 1959, ENI said it’s the largest international oil company working in Libya and is producing 250,000 barrels of oil equivalent from its assets there.
http://www.neurope.eu/article/eni-discovers-hydrocarbons-offshore-libya/