By Michel Cousins.
Tripoli, 12 February 2014:
The Polish Oil . . .[restrict]and Gas Company Libya (POGC) has discovered gas at its concession in the Murzuk Basin, some 650 kilometres south of Tripoli. According to the National Oil Corporation (NOC), the well is located in contract area 113/1, 200 kilometres north west of Obari. It has an estimated daily production capacity of four million cubic feet.
POGC won the concession in May 2008.
Ironically, in mid-January POSC parent company PGNiG announced that it was writing down its entire investment in Libya, equivalent to $136 million. The figure represents the capital value of POSC and a $44-million reserve. The main reasons for the decision, PGNiG said, were the fact it was not clear if its concession, which expires in September this year, would be renewed, plus the current insecurity in the country.
A week later, evidently responding to the second concern, the company announced it was evacuating its Polish workforce from Libya, saying that although there had been no threat to is employees, it was a “precautionary measure”. As a result, all Polish staff left the drilling site in the 113 licence area. [/restrict]
