Libya’s National Oil Corporation, NOC, and Austrian energy firm OMV have declared the Essar oil discovery commercially viable as OPEC’s second-largest African producer pushes to revive its industry in partnerships with international oil majors.
NOC has said that the “Essar” discovery made by OMV Austria is now declared commercially viable, following the drilling of well B1-106/4 and the completion of the evaluation process of the development plan submitted by the Austrian company to the NOC.
Total reserves from the discovery are estimated at 195 million barrels of oil from the upper and lower “Sabil” reservoirs, with an expected production capacity of about 5,000 barrels per day (bpd), the Libyan state oil firm said.
Development work for the discovery will begin under the operator, Zueitina Oil Operations Company, and is expected to bring it into production as quickly as possible thanks to the site’s proximity to existing surface facilities, NOC added.
Following years of civil war and turmoil, Libya and its national oil company have launched a campaign to bring Big Oil firms back to the country’s upstream with the first oil tenders in nearly two decades.
Last year, Libya launched its first bid round for oil and gas exploration in 18 years.
The previous such bid round was held in 2007, four years before the toppling of Muammar Ghaddafi in 2011, which led to a protracted civil war in the country with various factions and tribal interests vying for control of key institutions and major oilfields.
NOC last month formally signed exploration and production-sharing agreements from its 2025 bid round with international companies including Repsol, Turkish Petroleum, Eni, QatarEnergy, and MOL, marking the country’s first major licensing push in 17 years.
In the meantime, Libya’s production has climbed to roughly 1.4 million bpd, its highest level in more than a decade, with officials targeting 1.6 million bpd by the end of this year and 2 million bpd further out.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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