Libya to supply oil to Ghana

Libya could soon join Nigeria to supply crude oil to Ghana. A deal has been struck between the two leaders, President Atta Mills and Mr. Qadafi of Libya on the sidelines of the 13th Ordinary Summit of the African Union which took place in the city of Sirte - Libya from 1-3 July 2009, after the government expressed seriousness about the need for assistance to access crude oil on good terms.

The Vice-President, John Mahama, had earlier travelled to Libya on the same mission.The Presidential Spokesman Mahama Ayariga told Joy News, government hoped Libya could help Ghana to meet her daily oil demand of about 65,000 barrels.“Qadafi has indicated his commitment to assist (Ghana with oil).

It is now the question of the technical team working through the details of the deal and then the two countries will seal it; afterwards we will see the fruits of the discussion.”

Source: Myjoyonline & SOCLibya

Shell sponsored a training course in the area of a rapid response to emergencies.

Shell for Exploration and Production in Libya, set up lately a training programme for a rapid response to emergencies. The training course included the bases of treating with patients of traffic accidents, medical procedures on the scene of the accident and before the arrival of the injured to the hospital and how to deal with emergencies and urgent cases of road traffic casualties.
The training course aimed at raising the efficiency of hospital staff, from Emhamed Al-Mgariyf Hospital in Ajadabia and Albraiqa Area Clinic.

The trainees successfully completed the course, which run for 9 days, and they have been granted certificates of the first level of a rapid response to the emergencies which were approved by the surgeons at the Royal University in the United Kingdom in Edinburgh city.

It is understood that the British Company E.R.S which is specialised in this type of training, carried out this course.

And this training programme was part of the company's plans to implement sustainable development programmes in Libya.


Source: NOC Libya & Translated by SOC Libya

Libya hopes Verenex buy will not take long

Libya's plan to buy Verenex Energy Inc should not take long and it is well-placed to finance the deal, the country's most senior energy official said on Thursday.

Libya has said it will exercise its right to pre-empt a friendly C$10-a-share bid for Verenex from China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) . It has yet to make a formal offer.

"Sometimes it's very difficult to give an exact time-frame, but I hope it will not take long," Shokri Ghanem, the chairman of Libya's National Oil Corporation, told Reuters television.

"Libya has quite a good fund," he said. "Most of the funds are invested in cash and cash is the king now, so I don't think we'll have a big problem regarding finance for this deal."

Verenex holds promising oil assets in Libya, home to Africa's largest oil reserves which has attracted a wave of interest from oil companies after the end of international sanctions.

With the assumption of debt, the C$10 a share offer from CNPC is worth C$499 million, the companies said when it was announced on February 26. The stock was unchanged at C$8.95 as of 1827 GMT.

Ghanem has previously stated that Libya would offer the same price as the C$10-a-share agreed by CNPC. He did not specify a purchase price in his comments on Thursday.

He said Libya had chosen to buy Verenex for commercial reasons.

Source: Reuters

Libya Will Match China National’s Offer for Verenex

Libya will match China National Petroleum Corp.’s C$499 million ($443 million) offer for Verenex Energy Inc., as the North African nation seeks to retain a larger share of its oil wealth.

“The government is now arranging the funds to buy Verenex,” Shokri Ghanem, chairman of Libya’s state-run National Oil Corp., said in a telephone interview today from Tripoli.

Libya, the holder of the continent’s largest oil reserves, wants to increase its share of petroleum revenue as the budget is squeezed by oil’s slump from July’s record. National Oil is a partner of Verenex, a Canadian explorer, and a preemption clause gives Libya first right of refusal on buying the assets.

China National, the nation’s biggest oil company also known as CNPC, agreed in February to purchase Calgary-based Verenex for C$10 a share in cash.

“CNPC’s offer is final,” Ghanem said today. “It cannot increase it because it’s not like an auction; we will match it.”

Verenex, whose shares more than doubled after the company put itself up for sale in November following four straight years of losses, rose 5.6 percent to C$9 as of 10:13 a.m. in Toronto.

Ghanem said in a March 16 interview that Libya wanted to purchase Verenex for “commercial reasons,” and not to limit the access of China National to its national oil reserves. Verenex has assets in Libya that are worth “hundreds of millions” of dollars, he said at the time.

In a statement on March 18, Verenex reiterated that the proposed sale of the company to China National was subject to “certain consents” from Libya’s National Oil.

China National began exploring for oil in Libya in 2005. Verenex had agreed to pay the Chinese company a C$15 million breakup fee if the company scuttled the deal.

Source: bloomberg

NOC signs agreements with the Total, Wintershall and Statoil.

With its new policies towards renegotiating and extending old agreements, Libya’s NOC has always been attempting to increase its shares and implant new terms and conditions which will make it, increase its shares dramatically.

On Thursday 21/05/2009, the National Oil Corporation signed an Exploration and Production Sharing Agreement with French Total and its partners (German Wintershall and Norwegian Statoil) in Tripoli.

The Agreement was signed by Dr.Shokri Mohamed Ghanem, NOC Chairman and Mr. Christophe de Margerie, Chairman and CEO, and chairwoman of Statoil accompanied by Representatives from Wintershall.

The event was also attended by Mr. Ali Saleh NOC's General Manager and NOC management Committee members.

In terms of oil production the new agreement means Total’s shares will be reduced to 27% and the rest belongs to NOC, whereas the old agreement was 50% each.
On the gas side Total’s shares will be 40% then decreases to 30% instead of 50% from the old agreement.

Furthermore, Total has been active in Libya for a long time and Total has a 75% working interest of the Second Party share in each block, with StatoilHydro holding the remaining 25% of Block C17 and Wintershall the remaining 25% of Block C137.
In addition to production from the offshore Al Jurf field in Block C137 and from the Mabruk field in Block C17 in the Sirte Basin, Total operates a number of other exploration licenses in Libya.

On the other hand, Wintershall has had a local exploration and production presence in Libya since 1958. The largest reservoir from which it produces is the As Sarah oil field near the Jakhira oasis in Libya, where it also operates the country’s only facility that conditions associated gas from its fields and transports the resulting products, gas and condensate, for sale on the coast. In addition, Wintershall was awarded in 2006 another exploration area in south-eastern Libya, covering over 11,000 square kilometers.

StatoilHydro on the mean time, operates three exploration licences in Libya totalling over 23,000 square kilometres.

Source: NOC, Sahra Oil Consultancy, Total, Wintershall and Statoil

Norway drops probe into Hydro's Libya dealings

Norwegian economic crime unit Oekokrim has dropped an investigation into suspect consultancy payments made by Norsk Hydro (NHY.OL) in Libya, the Norwegian aluminium producer said on Friday.

The Libya scandal forced Norsk Hydro's former chief executive, Eivind Reiten, to resign from the post of StatoilHydro (STL.OL) chairman in 2007, after Norsk Hydro sold its oil and gas activities to Norwegian energy group Statoil.

"This has been a challenging case both for the company and for the individuals involved, and we are pleased that Oekokrim has arrived at this conclusion," Norsk Hydro Chairman Terje Vareberg said in a statement.

The suspect deals go back to 2000-2001, before Reiten took over as CEO but when he was a member of Hydro's group executive management. The case involves the oil and gas operations that Statoil acquired from Norsk Hydro to create StatoilHydro.

Source: Reuters

Medco seeks $275m in loans to finance oil field in Libya.

Publicly listed PT Medco Energi International is seeking as much as US$275 million worth of loans to develop its oil block in Libya.

Medco project director Lukman Mahfoedz said the so-called Area 47 project in Libya would cost $800 million for facility construction and $300 million for development.

“Of the total cost of US$ 1.1 billion, Medco will only contribute 25 percent,” he said.

Medco president director Darmoyo Doyoatmojo said he was optimistic the company would secure the required loans.

“Once a reserve has been found, the project’s risk will be very small,” he said, adding Medco had talked with several banks about loans.

Area 47 is estimated to have contingent reserves of 307 million barrels of oil. Under the production sharing agreement, Medco and partner Canada-based Verenex jointly own 13.7 percent of the reserve, while Libya’s National Oil Company owns the remaining 86.3 percent once the block starts production.

Verenex is currently trying to sell its stake in the block, with Indonesian state-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina reportedly looking to acquire the stake.

Darmoyo said Medco expected Area 47 to begin production by the end of 2010, with an average output of 50,000 barrels oil per day (bpd).

“We’ve submitted our appraisal reports on the project’s economic viability to Libya’s National Oil Company, and we expect to receive its approval in the third quarter,” he said.

Medco, controlled by the Panigoro family, recorded $280 million in net profit last year, up from $7 million in 2007.

Source:The jakarta post

Meeting between NOC chairman & CEO of NOEX

Dr. Shukri Ghanem, chairman of Libya's NOC, met on Monday 20th April 2009 with Mr. Makoto Koseki President and CEO of NOEX, meeting was also attended by Mr. Ali Saleh NOC's General Manager, Mr. Azzam Ali Elmesallati Members of the Management Committee and Mr. Khalifa Ben Gharbia chairman of the management committee of Nippon in Libya.

During the meeting both parties discussed various subjects with regard to the mutual interests between NOC and NOEX and the progress of merger between two Nippon Oil companies. They, furthermore, discussed the exploration projects which are undergoing by Nippon Libya in which the company announced the successful completion of the seismic operation and the start of drilling in its first well on 15th April 2009.

Since the execution of the Exploration and Production Sharing Agreement in 2005 in which NOC has 92% and the remaining belongs to the Japanese company , NOEX has been conducting exploration activities in Libya, the company won, in the 2nd round, a sharing agreement onshore for Area 2 Blocks 2-1/2 and 40-3/4 about the city of Sabratha. NOEX is working with Japex Libya.

Source: NOC