Libya is to invite international tenders for exploration of its onshore and offshore natural gas reserves in the next few days, the north African country's oil supremo told AFP on Wednesday.
National Oil Company president Shukri Ghanem said a dozen contracts will be allocated to foreign companies to explore 41 gas blocks in the sea and in the Sirte basin, 500 kilometres (310 miles) east of Tripoli, in the central southern Murzuq basin and at Ghdamess, 700 kilometres south of the capital.
Details of the blocks, varying in size from 2,000 to 10,000 square kilometres (700 to 3,800 square miles) will be presented to interested parties in August in Tripoli and later in London, he added.
Allocation of the blocks is expected in December. Ghanem said it is the fourth time Libya has invited tenders for exploration of its vast hydrocarbon reserves, but the first time for natural gas exploitation. Opec member Libya is the African continent's second largest oil producer at 1.7 million barrels per day. It also has natural gas reserves estimated at 1,314 billion cubic metres (46,403 billion cubic feet).
Tripoli at the end of May signed a 900 million dollar exploration deal with BP under which the British energy giant will explore an area of some 54,000 square kilometres primarily for gas, but also in the hope of finding oil. The agreement applies in the Sirte region and at Ghdamess.
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