By Libya Herald reporter.
Paris, 31 May 2016:
French oil services company Technip has been awarded a contract said to be worth $500 . . .[restrict]million to develop the offshore Bahr Essalam gas field.
According to a statement from Technip, the work is on phase II of the gas-gathering project operated by Mellitah Oil & Gas, the joint consortium between the National Oil Corporation (NOC) and Italy’s Eni.
The work which includes refurbishment of Mellitah’s Sabratha platform, situated some 110 kilometres off the Libyan coast in approximately 190 metres of water, will cover the design installation and commissioning of a gas gathering system and will include laying 34 kilometres of pipelines, subsea valves and other links. The work, to be carried out from Malta, is to be carried out between the second half of 2017 and the second half of 2018.
“We are proud of this contract award, which shows strong recognition of Technip’s broad capabilities across a variety of areas,” said Thierry Pilenko, Technic’s chairman and CEO who oversaw the signing of the contract in Paris today along with Mustafa Sanallah, chairman of the Tripoli-based NOC and French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault.
“We very much look forward to working with Mellitah to safely and successfully deliver this large project, by leveraging our strong know-how and experience in high-quality product manufacturing and subsea installation,” Pilenko added.
The signing took place within the context of a meeting of the NOC and French companies at which the head of the French Foreign Ministry’s North Africa and Middle East Directorate, Jerome Bonnafont, stressed France’s support for building stability in Libya and ensuring the return of security. He also expressed France’s desire for stronger cooperation between French companies and National Oil Corporation and its affiliates.
For his part, Sanallah said that the NOC was keen to develop collaboration with French companies, noting that there was major opportunities in Libya. It needed, he said, new technologies. However, nothing would be achieved without the restoration of security and stability. [/restrict]