By Sami Zaptia.
London, 14 June 2017:
The chairman of the Libyan Council for Oil and Gas (LCOG), Khaled Ben Othman expects that Libya’s oil production will surpass the one-million-barrel mark by the end of the year. The NOC confirmed yesterday that production is currently at 830,000 bpd. The LCOG represents the Libyan private sector in the hydrocarbon sector.
Ben Othman said that he expects that the temporary agreement reached between the NOC and Wintershall yesterday (for fields NC 96 & 97) would add between 85-90,000 barrels per day in the short term. Moreover, he added that the opening of the Abitifel and Nafoura fields (103A) yesterday and today would soon boost production to 930-950,000 bpd.
Ben Othman warmly welcomed the NOC-Wintershall agreement which he revealed he and the LCOG had been working hard on in the background over the last few months – liaising and mediating between all parties to achieve. He revealed that there was goodwill on all sides to reach the agreement as a win-win for all.
The LCOG chairman explained that Wintershall will be entitled to between 85-90,000 bpd as a result of the agreement in order to ‘‘cover its costs’’ with the balance going to the NOC. Meanwhile, both parties will continue to negotiate on a long term deal within the ‘‘2010 EPSA-4 framework’’, Ben Othman explained.
Post the Qaddafi era, and with the onset of stability and peace in Libya, Ben Othman looked forward to a much fairer and greatly increased role for local Libyan companies in the development and maintenance of the Libyan oil and gas sector.
