The Media Office of the Mellitah Oil and Gas Company confirmed in an exclusive statement to Libya Herald that the chairman of the National Oil Corporation (NOC), Farhat Bengdara, personally attended the restart of the Mellitah Oil complex.
The closure resulted in positive results for the NOC and its cadres
The complex had been planned to be closed for 21 days but the major overhaul was completed yesterday in just 16 days. Bengdara commended the Libyan cadres for being able ‘‘for the first time ever’’ to implement a major overhaul ‘‘without any help from foreign cadres’’.
Bengdara also hailed the fact that the NOC was able to maintain vital stable supplies of gas to power stations without interruption to the national network. Moreover, he also commended the NOC’s ability to link its eastern and western gas pipelines – for the first time in 12 years.
Finally, the Mellitah complex closure enabled the completion of the work to connect the gas line to the Zuwara desalination plant, so that it can be supplied with gas from the Mellitah Industrial Complex continuously and smoothly.
Increased demand for gas locally and to Italy
The NOC Media Office said the stoppage for maintenance, development, expansion and modernization works to meet the increasing demand for natural gas supplied to Italy, increasing export capacity through the Green Stream Line linked to Italy, as well as to meet the increasing demand for gas used at home.
It added that about 3 million cubic meters of gas arrived in Italy, which is less than the average of about 7-9 million per day before stopping to complete maintenance work. The flow of gas towards Italy will increase further in the coming days, the Media Office explained.
Smokeless flares introduced
The Media Office added that among the development projects in the complex is to reduce the bad environmental impact of any emissions polluting the environment. Therefore, in compliance with local laws and international institutes that stipulate the reduction of emissions, it was decided to start providing a smokeless flare, the so-called dispersed steam, in addition to the existing flare in liquefied natural gas facilities.
The nitrogen plant was modernised
As a result of the increased demand for nitrogen gas, the nitrogen plant was modernised with the construction of an additional of a nitrogen gas tank with related equipment to contain the increase in demand.
Increased water treatment capacity
Equally, because of the increase in the number of workers in Mellitah Industrial Complex, the necessary measures were taken to modernize the existing water treatment plant and increase the number of processing units for industrial use.
Increased housing
In the same vein, housing units were increased to house the required number of workers to operate the complex. Future expansion was also considered within the initial development plan. The current work plan included adding 200 accommodation units with all the attached facilities to be implemented over several periods of time.
Eni had produced 9.3 billion cubic metres of gas in 2022
It is noteworthy that, previously, Libya was able to export up to 10 billion cubic meters of gas annually to Italy through the Green Stream pipeline, which connects Sicily with the Eni gas fields in Libya.
In 2022, Eni produced 9.3 billion cubic meters of gas in Libya, of which 2.5 billion cubic meters, or just under a third, reached Italy through the Green Stream pipeline, while 6.8 billion cubic meters was allocated to the local market for electricity generation.
