British energy giants BP Plc and Shell Plc signed agreements with Libya’s National Oil Corp to study new opportunities, joining international majors accelerating their return to the oil-rich African nation.
BP, which has pivoted away from its failed low-carbon strategy to focus more on fossil fuels, signed a memorandum of understanding to study reviving two huge oil fields in Libya, it said in a statement on Tuesday. The document outlines a framework for how the energy companies might work together and assess a range of technical data.
Separately, a Shell spokesman confirmed the company has signed a MOU with NOC “to study potential opportunities in the country’s oil and gas sector.”
The focus on Libya, a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, comes as the North African nation tries to bring back oil majors that left. Libya has struggled to quell unrest since the 2011 fall of longtime dictator Moammar Qaddafi. The country, which has the biggest-known crude reserves in Africa, is split between two governments that frequently feud over control of under-invested oil resources.
Ever since the civil war, which led to a slump in Libya’s production by about 18-fold to around 100,000 barrels a day in 2011, output has been volatile. The North African nation has pumped about 1.2 million to 1.3 million barrels a day in recent times, though that has had some wild variations. It has a goal of boosting output to 2 million barrels a day in a few years.
Starting last year, international companies, including BP, Italy’s Eni SpA, Spain’s Repsol SA and Austria’s OMV AG, resumed drilling in Libya, ending pauses in place since 2014. Libya is currently running its first tender for energy exploration contracts since the 2011 civil war.
BP’s agreement “reflects our strong interest in deepening our partnership with NOC and supporting the future of Libya’s energy sector,” said BP Executive Vice President of Gas and Low Carbon Energy William Lin. “We hope to apply BP’s experience from redeveloping and managing giant oil fields around the world.”
BP’s agreement covers the Sarir and Messla oil fields, which were discovered in 1961 and 1971, respectively. Last year, after a decade-long hiatus, the company re-entered natural gas exploration in Libya in partnership with Eni SpA.
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