Eni Ends 9-Year Force Majeure Status for Libyan Gas Exploration Sites

The Italian energy firm Eni announced Thursday that it has revoked a force majeure status on three gas exploration sites in Libya after nine years of not operating in the areas due to security concerns. A statement from Eni said that the company had formalized with its Libyan counterpart, the state-run National Oil Corporation (NOC), the withdrawal of the force majeure clause on exploration areas A and B (onshore) and C (offshore), where Eni is the operator with a 42.5% stake along with BP at 42.5% and the Libyan Investment Authority with 15%. The Italian company said it completed a security risk assessment on the areas that “yielded positive results.” The companies involved can now resume contracted activities in exploration basins, some of which are located close to Wafa’s gas facilities, some 540 kilometers (336 miles) southwest of the capital Tripoli.

Eni is Libya’s largest gas producer and domestic market supplier with an 80% share of national production, amounting to 1.6 Bscf/d last year. The company has been quick to capitalize on the North African country's rich gas and oil resources, operating in Libya since 1959. Eni’s production activities are run through the joint venture company Mellitah Oil and Gas BV (Eni owns 50% and NOC owns 50%). Equity production was 165,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2022. However, in recent years, war and instability in Libya have caused national gas and oil output to fall. At the beginning of July, Libya’s strongman in the east, Field Marshall Khalifa Hifter, warned of military action unless oil revenues were divided fairly within the next two months. Pro-Hifter lawmakers claim that the central bank distributes most of the oil revenues to the rival UN-recognized government in Tripoli, despite most of the oil being produced in fields in eastern Libya. As well as in Libya, Eni also has significant presence in Algeria and Egypt. North Africa is a region European states have looked to as an alternative source for oil and gas after imports from Russia were blocked by international sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.