Waha Oil partners to revive Sirte basin production
Waha Oil Company’s partners ConocoPhillips, Marathon Oil, Hess Corporation and the local National Oil Company are preparing large exploration production program to revive the oil and gas production in Libya.
Within the Sirte basin, the Waha concession covers 13 million acres and includes three major projects : Faregh II, NC-98 and North Giato.
Focusing on the Waha concession of the Sirte basin, the blocks NC-98 and North Gialo have been identified by the Libya Government as to offer the reserves in crude oil, condensate and natural gas to restore the national production to its level of the 197os, before US’s sanctions.
With the help of all major companies such as Occidental Petroleum, Repsol, Total, Eni or Veba Oil, Libya managed to come back to the level of production it had under the Muammar Gaddafi era at 1.6 million b/d of crude oil.
In 2006, Libya proceeded to a large exploration program with the ambition to double the production to 3 – 3.5 million b/d.
This program had been interrupted by the revolution but the data collected at that time are still there and the new Government is willing to proceed on fast track
As low hanging fruits to provide with this expansion, the Libyan Authorities identified the NC-98 and the North Giato oil field in the Waha concession to boost the production.
NOC, ConocoPhillips, Marathon Oil and Hess expect to produce 500,000 b/d in 2017 from Waha
At plateau production, NC-98 should deliver:
– 80,000 b/d of condensate
– 480 million cf/d of natural gas
and North Gialo is expected to produce:
– 100,000 b/d of crude oil
– 200 million cf/d of natural gas
The capital expenditure for the development of the NC-98 and North Gialo is estimated around $1 billion for the drilling campaign and $10 billion to reach the entire development.
In this context, the companies partnering in the Waha Oil Company, are preparing their plans.
Waha Oil Company was established in 1955 combining the interests of the Lybian National Oil Company (NOC) and the three American companies.
Today these partners in the Waha Oil Company share interests as following:
– National Oil Company (NOC) 59.17%
– ConocoPhillips 16.33%
– Marathon oil 16.33%
– Hess Corporation 8.17%
The role between the partners should be defined on early next year considering that they target to ramp up the actual production of crude oil and condensate from the actual 320,000 b/d to 500,000 b/d in 2017.
Regarding the natural gas, NOC and its partners are planning to reinject it into the reservoirs to enhance the oil and condensate recovery.
Before the revolution Waha Oil had mandated Saipem from Italy to perform a pre-front end engineering and design (pre-FEED) work.
To speed up the development of the NC-98 and North Gialo blocks, Waha’s partners may invite Saipem to move ahead and complete the FEED work.
In less than one year, the Libyan Government and Waha’s partners ConcoPhillips, Marathon Oil and Hess have managed to restore all the conditions to prepare major development in one of the most prolific area of the Sirte basin.
