Page 12 - AfrOil Week 49 2022

AfrOil POLICY AfrOil

Libya is the country where most ships carrying for his unorthodox policies, which strengthened
migrants originate from, heading on to Lampe- African irredentism (particularly in Algeria)
dusa. The North African country’s political and weaved closer economic ties with the Soviet
instability makes it harder for Italy or the EU to Union in a bid to reduce Italian energy depend-
make any deal to stem the departures at source. ence on the “Seven Sisters” (a term coined by
For Meloni’s right-wing party, FDI (Fratelli Mattei himself), the major oil companies hailing
d’Italia), the eradication of illegal migration from France, the US and the UK.
ranks high among its priorities. Mattei’s figure is not devoid of controversies
Meloni also praised the successful co-opera- but is generally held in high esteem by Italians
tion with Algeria – boosted by new deals signed across the political spectrum for his unrepentant
by her predecessor Mario Draghi last summer refusal to collude with Western powers at Italy’s
– which helped Italy to become less dependent expense during the reconstruction years follow-
on Russian gas. Italy currently imports 45% ing World War II.
of its gas from Algeria, mostly through the His policies towards Africa were praised by
Trans-Mediterranean Pipeline, also named after the regional independent governments for their
Enrico Mattei. magnanimity; remarkably, Mattei’s Eni offered
Mattei – a capable and headstrong manager Algeria and Tunisia a 50-50 partnership for
who cut his teeth in the Christian Democrat extracting their oil in the 1960s, a much fairer
resistance to the fascist regime – died in a plane share than the typical deals granted at the time
crash in 1962 in mysterious circumstances. He by American or French corporations to African
was loathed by the US and even more by France nations. ™

Libya lifts force majeure on oil

and gas exploration operations

LIBYA LIBYA’S Government of National Unity (GNU) sought to install his government in Tripoli. The
has announced it has lifted the force majeure on country has therefore faced many challenges as
oil and gas exploration operations thanks to the rival factions have repeatedly blocked main oil
improvement of security conditions, according facilities to demand financial benefits or request
to a statement from the state-owned National political needs.
Oil Corp. (NOC) late on Monday, December 5. Armed militias loyal to Khalifa Haftar, the
The OPEC member wants international oil eastern commander, disrupted almost all of Lib-
companies (IOCs) such as BP (UK), Shell (UK), ya’s oil production for eight months and reduced
TotalEnergies (France) and Eni (Italy) to resume the country’s crude output by almost half.
activities and play a bigger role to increase pro- The recently appointed head of NOC, Far-
duction and exports. Algeria aims to finalise hat Bengdara, said oil production had doubled
an agreement with Eni to develop offshore gas to 1.26mn barrels per day (bpd) as of Decem-
fields and tap some 80 trillion cubic feet (2.3 tril- ber 6 compared with only 600,000 bpd three
lion cubic metres) of proven reserves. Russian months earlier. According to analysts at S&P
oil company Tatneft also has upstream opera- Global, crude production will hold at 1.1mn
tions in the pipeline in the Ghadames Basin. bpd through the year-end, given Haftar’s July
The GNU said it would provide the necessary 20 agreement with former rival Dbeibah to end
support and ensure safety for the resumed oper- blockades. ™
ations. NOC announced it will expand explo-
ration and production agreements needed to
restart exploration, ensuring safety measures in
co-operation with the country’s civil and mili-
tary authorities.
Exploration operations were making slow
progress due to the fluid security situation and
frequent closures of main oilfields. Libya has
two rival administrations supported by differ-
ent militias and foreign powers. The country
failed to hold elections in December 2021, and
a political dispute between those loyal to PM
Abdulhamid Dbeibah in Tripoli continued
with the country’s east-based parliament and
PM Fathy Bashagha, who had for months has Libya wants IOCs to resume exploration operations (Photo: AOSCO)

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 49 08•December•2022