Meed | Libya plans to more than triple gas production

Libya plans to more than triple gas production

24 May 2023

Libya is planning to more than triple gas production, according to Khalifa Abdulsadek, a member of the National Oil Corporation (NOC) board of directors.

Speaking at a closed-door event held by the Libyan British Business Council, Abdulsadek said that NOC aimed to increase Libyan gas production to 4 billion cubic feet a day (cf/d).

In 2021, Libya produced on average just 1.2 billion cf/d, according to the Statistical Review of World Energy, which UK energy major BP published in June last year.

Abdulsadek said that Libya had “huge untapped resources” and that exports would be boosted through projects to develop new assets as well as “debottlenecking projects” and projects to replace domestic gas consumption with renewable energy.

He also said new pipeline projects would be needed to help oil fields reduce flaring and connect fields to existing pipeline networks within the country.

Abdulsadek did not give a time frame for the 4 billion cf/d target, but said that NOC’s strategy is to maximise gas exports via the Greenstream pipeline that runs from western Libya to Italy’s island of Sicily in the Mediterranean.

In March, MEED reported that the pipeline was operating at around a third of its nameplate capacity.

In January, NOC announced a partnership with Italy’s Eni for the Mellitah complex integrated expansion project, estimated to be worth $8bn.

The project involves the development of two regions containing expected gas reserves of 6 trillion cubic feet, with an estimated production capacity of 750 million cf/d of gas for 25 years.