Eni SpA has resumed exploration in Block 16/4 in waters northwest of Libya after a five-year pause, the North African country’s National Oil Corp (NOC) said.
“This comeback includes re-entering the exploratory well C1-16/4 (also known as BESS-3), where drilling operations were previously halted in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic”, the NOC said in a press release.
The Ensco rig 4005 reached 1,012 feet before being decommissioned April 2020, according to the NOC.
Saipem SpA, majority owned by Eni, is restarting the campaign with the Scarabeo-9 rig to reach the target total depth of 10,520 feet, the NOC said.
The well sits in Contract Area D, formerly MN 41, in waters about 743 meters (2,437.66 feet) deep. The well is around 15 kilometers (9.32 miles) from the Bahr Essalam gas field and approximately 95 kilometers from Libya’s coast, the NOC said.
In other Libyan activities, Eni reported May 5 the Sabratha Compression project, which will support Bahr Essalam, is scheduled to be completed by year-end.
Meanwhile a project to revamp the infrastructure of the Bouri offshore gas field is set to be completed 2026. The project involves the installation of an approximately 5,000-metric ton recovery module onto the existing DP4 offshore facility and the laying of 28 kilometers of pipelines connecting the DP3, DP4 and Sabratha platforms, according to Saipem. Saipem won the engineering, procurement, construction and installation contract, valued about $1 billion, as announced by Saipem August 9, 2023.
“Finally, the contracting strategy for Structures A&E is in execution, and the drilling of wells started in April”, Eni said May 5. The project will raise the field’s gas production and build a carbon dioxide capture and storage plant at the Mellitah integrated oil and gas processing complex, according to Eni.
“Eni is the leading international gas producer in Libya. The average equity production was 176,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2024”, Eni added.
Bahr Essalam and Bouri, as well as the Abu Attifel, El Feel and Wafa fields, are operated by Mellitah Oil & Gas BV, equally owned between Eni and the NOC.
Elsewhere in Libya, Eni in 2023 lifted a force majeure declaration on the onshore A and B and the offshore C exploration blocks.
“Force majeure, declared in 2014, was revoked following the completion by Eni of a security risk assessment to assess the security conditions in the areas where the exploration program will be carried out; this study yielded positive results”, Eni said in a statement August 3, 2023.
On October 26, 2024, the NOC said Eni had started exploring area B of the Ghadames Basin. The first well, A1-96/3 or the Hasheem Prospect, is about 35 kilometers from the Wafa field, according to the NOC.
Eni and BP PLC each own 42.5 percent in the A, B and C blocks. The Libyan Investment Authority holds 15 percent.
To contact the author, email jov.onsat@rigzone.com
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