By Hadi Fornaji.
Tripoli, 6 January 2014:
After a three-year break, Libyan offshore exploration has again restarted. French oil giant Total has started . . .[restrict]exploration at its Contract Areas 15, 16 & 32 with well A1-16/3 following the arrival last month of the rig Zagreb 1 just east of the Libyan-Tunisian offshore territorial line in the Pelagian Basin and 85 kilometres north of Zuwara. The area is known to be rich in gas and oil reserves.
The rig, owned by Croatian drilling contractors Crosco and built in France in 1977, had been due to arrive last April but maintenance and repair work in the shipyard in Trogir took longer than expected.
Drilling at A1-16/3 is expected to last 130 days, but if there is a discovery the rig could stay another month for production tests. It is then due to move to a second site, 30 kilometres northeast of Zuwara for an estimated 146 days. Again, if there is a discovery it could remain in place for another month for tests.
The cost of the exploration for the two new wells was estimated last year by Total at around $120-130 million. Further tests could cost another $15 million.
The drilling, to 12,000 feet in the first well and 17,000 in the second, is not expected to be easy because of the geology. However, the area around the first concession has already been explored for both oil and gas and finds have been made. The area around the second well has never been explored.
Total was the first foreign oil company to resume operations in Libya after the revolution, in December 2011. Its offshore contract for areas 15, 16 & 32 includes an option for two further wells. Whether these go ahead will depend on the results from the first two.
The offshore oil and gas industry has not been hit by the troubles affecting onshore fields and terminals.
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