29/07/2026 by Daniel Tait
OMV, an Austrian energy firm, and Libya’s state-owned National Oil Corporation (NOC) have declared the commercial viability of the Essar oil discovery.
According to NOC, OMV submitted a development plan to it after drilling the B1-106/4 well. After evaluating the plan, NOC announced that the discovery was commercially viable. It holds estimated total oil reserves of 195 million barrels drawn from the Lower and Upper Sabil reservoirs.
Zueitina Oil Operations Company, the operator, is expected to bring production online relatively quickly thanks to existing surface infrastructure being close by. NOC says it should produce some 5,000 barrels per day (bpd).
The news comes as Libya is trying to increase its oil production while attracting international oil companies into the country. Many of these left previously due to security concerns, but this is now starting to change.
For example, ExxonMobil, the maker of the Mobil Rarus air compressor oil, scaled back its presence in 2013. Last year, though, it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore four offshore blocks for the presence of hydrocarbon.
Last year also saw the country’s first round of bidding for exploration licences in 18 years, drawing in various international oil companies. This led to the signing of a number of exploration and production-sharing agreements with several big companies, such as QatarEnergy and Eni.
The country has reached its highest production level in several years at 1.4 million bpd, with the longer-term ambition being to reach 2 million bpd by the next decade.
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