Algeria's Sonatrach latest foreign oil major to resume Libya drilling
Libya has Africa’s largest proven oil reserves, with approximately 48.4 billion barrels, but political instability had led international energy firms to avoid it for more than a decade.
After more than a decade-long absence, Algeria’s state-run energy company Sonatrach has resumed oil exploration in Libya, announced the National Oil Company (NOC) on Thursday.
What happened: Libyan state-run NOC said in a statement that Sonatrach had restarted exploration in Block 96/2 in the Ghadames Basin, in the northwest, in mid-October. The basin is close to the Libya-Algeria border.
Sonatrach signed the exploration and production sharing agreement with NOC for the area in 2008 and began drilling in April 2014, reaching a depth of 8,090 feet. The Algerian company suspended operations the following month, however, and evacuated the site due to security concerns.
NOC said Sonatrach now plans to drill down to 8,440 feet.
