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By Sami Zaptia.
London, 11 March 2021:
Libya’s state National Oil Corporation (NOC) and Italian company Saipem signed a contract Tuesday (9 March) for the establishment of an Oil Maintenance and Services Centre in Benghazi.
The NOC reported that Saipem has extensive experience in technical centres, having its own engineering centres in strategic areas worldwide. In addition, Saipem’s long established presence and commitment to Libya, exemplified by its determination to maintain its headquarters and local staff even in recent years, provides Saipem with a strong knowledge of Libya and its energy infrastructure. In recognition of these qualities, Saipem has been considered by Libya’s NOC as the ideal partner to develop the Benghazi Oil Technical Centre Project, the NOC reported.
Saipem will initially provide the feasibility study, FEED & bid services for the duration of 15 months. In the later stages, Saipem will look after project management services and owner’s engineer services over the remaining 40 months of the contract.
NOC Chairman Mustafa Sanalla commented: “To get a significant cost savings, reduced production losses and time savings by performing maintenance work locally through the investing companies, the NOC is adopting the establishment of a specialized technical centre in the city of Benghazi, with a high level of equipment and infrastructure.
The centre will be divided into suitable areas for investment by international companies or specialized manufacturers. By completing the signing of the consulting services contract with the Italian company Saipem, we will have started the implementation work of the project, through which we are looking forward to extending the cooperation bridge with Saipem to implement other projects”.
During the signing ceremony Stefano Cao, CEO of Saipem, commented: “North Africa remains a strategic area of huge potential developments in both industrial and energy sectors. This project consolidates our relationship with NOC and gives us the opportunity to support our client in creating an important centre for the optimal utilization of the national resources”.
