American and British Companies Secure Contracts to Drill for Oil in Libya

10/03/05 -- The American company ExxonMobil, the British company British Petroleum, and the Italian company ENI have won contracts for the drilling of oil in Libya. 120 companies submitted applications during the second round of applications for oil extraction licenses. 19 of the new high-profile licenses are situated in high-yield locations for oil such as the region of Sirte in the center of the country and the Murzuq oil fields in the southwest. The Socialist Republic awarded the first round of applications, which included 57 regions, last January / Kanoon al-Thany. An employee of the national oil organization said that ExxonMobil won a contract to drill in the middle of the country in cooperation with the Japanese Nippon Oil Company and the Indonesian oil company Pertamina. British Petroleum acquired two contracts in the Sirte region in cooperation with Pertamina and the Indian National Oil Company, while ENI and British Petroleum have won two contracts in the Kufra oil fields.

French, Norwegian, and Russian companies won contracts for the Murzuq oil fields in the west. Occidental announced last July / Tammuz that it would be the first American company to recommence the production of oil in Libya, after the lifting of the sanctions which the United States had imposed upon Tripoli for nearly two decades.

Libya decided to increase the number of oil drilling operations to a great degree, through a program according to which its investments will reach seven billion dollars, with the aim of raising their capital reserves by 50% in the next decade.

The capital reserves of the country from oil are estimated at 29.5 billion barrels, while its production has reached 1.63 million barrels a day.

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-Translated by C.G. Häberl

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