In the months leading up to the North Africa Oil and Gas Summit 2012, Jean Daniel Blasco, Vice President of TOTAL E&P North Africa participated in an interview with The Energy Exchange to discuss the organization's opportunities in Libya and North Africa.
Libya has commenced activities on rebuilding its economy at an accelerated rate. The IMF has reported that the Libyan economy is expected to surge by nearly 117 per cent in 2012 with oil production levels reaching 1.7 million barrels per day (bpd) to 1.95 million bpd by 2015.
The offshore Al Jurf field has a capacity of 45,000 bpd. Oil production by TOTAL had reached 55,000 bpd in Libya, but had decreased drastically when the civil war began.
"After the civil war, TOTAL's main challenge was to support its common operating company with National Oil Company Libya (NOC Libya), Mabruk Oil Operations, to resume production," said Mr. Blasco. "The two fields Al Jurf (offshore) and Mabruk (onshore) are now back to their pre-war production level."
According to Mr. Blasco, the challenges faced by TOTAL in Libya in addition to supporting development activities of Mabruk Oil Operations, were to re-start its exploration activities.
Libya's proven oil reserves amount to 47 billion barrels and TOTAL is interested in expanding its opportunities in Libya, such as new exploration rounds.
