Italy’s Eni Energy Company and Libya’s state-owned National Oil Corporation (NOC) recently awarded a one billion dollar contract to an international consortium for the planning and construction of hydrocarbon treatment plants in the outskirts of Mellitah, on the Libyan coast near Sabratah and in the desert area of Wafa, confirmed a press release.
The consortium, made up of Japan’s JGC Corporation, Italy’s Tecnimont and its French subsidiary Sofregaz, will build the plant that is set for completion in October 2003, guaranteeing the production of close to 98,000 barrels of liquid hydrocarbons per day and 10 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
Some two billion cubic meters of the plant’s output will be sold on the Libyan market, while the remaining eight billion will be exported to Italy via a 540-kilometer submarine pipeline. Greenstream BV, a company owned by Eni and NOC, is currently carrying out the construction of the one billion dollar sea-line connecting Mellitah to the Sicilian coast, to be operational by 2003.
The contract is part of the Gas Project, a $4.6 billion scheme for the extraction of 1.8 billion barrels of oil reserves located in the offshore concession of NC 41 and of the onshore concession of NC 169. The project’s completion will require five additional tenders.
Eni’s presence in the Middle East dates back to 1957, when a Société Irano-Italienne des Pétroles (SIRIP), was established between the Italian company and The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC). Since then Eni has carried out projects in Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen and Algeria. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
