By John Lee.
The chairman of Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC), Mustafa Sanalla, met key US officials in Washington DC.
During the meeting, Dr Jamal Houwaisa, principle advisor to the NOC Board, presented the corporation’s strategy to increase Libyan production to 2.1 million barrels of oil and 4 billion cubic feet of gas per day by 2024 – conditional on improved security and sufficient financing.
Dr Houwaisa also presented NOC’s offer to potential buyers and investors. NOC chairman commented:
“Our investment programme covers exploration, infill drilling, water injection, well workovers, new field development, damaged facility rehabilitation and expansion. We need to pay pending invoices to service companies to help restore confidence in the sector. Libya is a valued short-haul supplier for the Mediterranean region. Our infrastructure is well-established, and our upstream offer, with virtually no geological risk in most cases, is exceptional.”
In a meeting with senior officials from the US State, Treasury and Energy departments, the chairman further detailed the constraints on operations arising from the lack of necessary funding and unstable security conditions, which prevent capacity increases and risk a sharp fall in production.
Mr Sanalla called for greater transparency among all Libyan government institutions to account for every dinar received and spent, citing NOC’s initiative to disclose monthly revenues as an example.
The chairman also reviewed the activities of NOC’s procurement office in Houston and discussed potential contracting opportunities for American companies.
Among the parties present were Libya’s Minister of Planning Al-Taher Al-Jahimi, Minister of Finance Faraj Bumtari, the governor of Central Bank of Libya, Sadiq al-Kabir, the Ambassador of Libya to the US, and representatives of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
(Source: NOC)
