Oil giant Wintershall looks to expand Libya operations as production moves towards pre-war levels

Tripoli, 30 August:

Oil and gas giant Wintershall has said it hopes to restore oil production in Libya to pre-war levels by . . .[restrict]next year.

“The plan is then for next year to come up to pre-war production levels, witch were around 100,000 barrels per day,” said Martin Bachmann, Board member and head of exploration and production at Wintershall.

The company currently produces about 75,000 barrels per day (bpd).

As with all foreign oil and gas firms operating in Libya, Wintershall halted production shortly after the outbreak of the revolution in February last year. It resumed operations in October 2011.

The German firm, the oil and gas arm of chemicals group BASF, is also looking to expand its operations in Libya.

It is currently building a pipeline with the National Oil Corporation which will connect production from the Wintershall concession C96 and the oil field Nafoora, operated by Libya’s Arabian Gulf Oil Company, with the Amal field.

From there the crude oil will be transported onwards to the export port terminal of Ras Lanuf. [/restrict]