Mellitah Oil & Gas BV has restarted operations at a well in Libya that can produce 37 million cubic feet (MMcfd) of gas per day, National Oil Corp. said on Sunday. (NOC).
The CW04 gas well, in the Bahr Essalam field offshore Tripoli, had stopped production since January 2021 “due to technical problems”, the NOC said in a press release.
CW04 can also produce 1,000 barrels per day (bpd) of condensate, according to state-owned NOC, which formed Mellitah Oil & Gas together with Italy’s Eni in 2008.
“The reopening of the well is part of the company’s efforts to increase production and obtain the maximum benefit from the available resources,” the statement said.
Libya, whose energy production has been affected by political unrest, is also looking to boost gas production to meet domestic and European demand.
CW04 is connected to the Sabratha Platform, considered one of the largest oil and gas facilities in the North African country with a jacket of 25,000 tonnes, according to operator Mellitah Oil & Gas. The platform serves as a preliminary gas separation and treatment facility from the Bahr Essalam field, an anticline about 50 kilometers long and 4 km wide, Mellitah Oil & Gas says on its website.
About 110 km (68.35 miles) offshore Tripoli, the field has 986 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (MMscfd) of total sales capacity and about 31,000 bpd of condensate. These come from 15 platform wells and 11 subsea wells, while 10 wells are scheduled to be developed “in the near future,” as stated on Mellitahog.ly.
Increase in gas production
Amid political and security challenges to its energy industry, Libya has expressed its intention to increase gas production to ensure not only domestic supply but also export to Europe. The World Bank calculated that Libya’s economy had shrunk by 1.2% last year due to the shutdown of oil production in the first half. A US Energy Information Administration country analysis released on May 9, 2022, said that due to political instability since the start of the civil war in 2011, oil production from Libya has fallen from 1.7 MMbpd between 2006 and 2010 to a peak capacity of 1.3 MMbpd. . The report cited repeated national oil blockades, among other factors.
Then-CON president Mustafa Sanalla told the CERAWeek forum last year in the US that the state corporation was focusing on boosting gas production to meet growing demand in Europe.
Earlier this year, the NOC and Eni signed an agreement to invest about 8 billion dollars in “a strategic project aimed at increasing gas production to supply the Libyan domestic market and guarantee export to Europe”. said an Eni press release on January 28, 2023. The project has two structures with a combined gas production of up to 750 MMscfd. The project aims to start service in 2026.
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