By Nihal Zaroug.
Tripoli, 7 November:
Despite grim 2012 forecasts . . .[restrict]for Libya’s oil and gas recovery, oil companies have been reporting steady growth. Oil and gas from Libya have made substantial contributions to both ENI and BASF’s third quarter financial (Q3) results.
Austrian OMV is the latest company to beat the odds by posting a 34 percent increase in earnings for Q3. Profits boosted by higher sales volumes in Libya and better performance in Yemen, helped OMV post a clean CCS earnings before interest and taxes at €786 million.
OMV’s total sales increased by nine percent and was attributed to higher volumes from Libya’s exploration and production, which had been absent last year because of the armed conflict. Production is close to pre-crisis levels according to a recently released financial statement from OMV.
Libya is a sizeable market for the Austrian company. In 2010, liftings from Libya represented ten percent of OMV’s overall output. The current steady growth will likely see the pre-war rate of 34,000 bopd sooner than the 18 months predicted by OMV’s of Chief Executive Officer, Gerhard Roiss, in September. It has been noted that since OMV re-opened its Tripoli office a year ago, production has recovered rapidly and by Q2 production was at roughly 90 percent of pre-war levels. [/restrict]
