Eni ends 9-year force majeure status for Libyan gas exploration sites

Jack Dutton

Aug 3, 2023

Italian multinational oil and gas company ENI's CEO Claudio Descalzi (front L) and Libyan National Oil Corporation chief Farhat Bengdara (2nd R) sign a bilateral agreement during a ceremony attended by Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (back 2nd L) and Libya's Tripoli-based Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah (C) in the Libyan capital, on January 28, 2023. — MAHMUD TURKIA/AFP via Getty Images

The Italian energy firm Eni announced Thursday that it has revoked a force majeure status on three gas exploration sites in Libya after nine years of not operating in the areas due to security concerns.

A statement from Eni said that the company had formalized with its Libyan counterpart, the state-run National Oil Corporation (NOC), the withdrawal of the force majeure clause on exploration areas A and B (onshore) and C (offshore), where Eni is the operator with a 42.5% stake along with BP at 42.5% and the Libyan Investment Authority with 15%. The Italian company said it completed a security risk assessment on the areas that “yielded positive results.”

The companies involved can now resume contracted activities in exploration basins, some of which are located close to Wafa’s gas facilities, some 540 kilometers (336 miles) southwest of the capital Tripoli.

Eni is Libya’s largest gas producer and domestic market supplier with an 80% share of national production, amounting to 1.6 billion standard cubic feet a day last year.