Amid huge interest from foreign firms, Libya is on schedule to announce its second post-sanction oil bidding round Oct. 2, a senior Libyan oil official said Thursday. Around 63 oil companies are bidding for 44 oil blocks which will be awarded in 26 different contracts, Abdulla Salem El-Badri, chairman of Libya's National Oil Co.(NOI.YY), said.
"We are expecting this round to be as hugely successful as the first round. We recently qualified another 10 companies to participate," El-Badri told Dow Jones Newswires.
The blocks, which span 100,000 kilometers, will include the significant Sirt and Ghadames oil fields. Development of those fields is essential if Libya, a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, is to achieve its aim of doubling its oil production capacity to 3 million barrels a day by the end of the decade.
"This is all about getting more people drilling and doing exploration in Libya," said Craig McMahon, energy consultant at Edinburgh-based Wood Mackenzie.
The bids will be awarded in Tripoli.
In January, Libya's first auction of exploration and production-sharing contracts since 2000 attracted $150 million in investment and bids from more than 60 companies, including most U.S. oil majors and many smaller companies. Libyan oil officials have since been eager to dispel suggestions that U.S. firms are favored when it comes to doing business in Libya.
El-Badri recently said the government wouldn't negotiate directly with any company and each was on an equal footing.
At a recent road show in London during which Libyan oil officials laid out their stall for the latest bidding round, Shell, BP PLC (BP), Repsol YPF SA (REP) and Tomen Corp. (8003.TO) were present alongside their U.S. counterparts.
"We can assume all the major international companies will again be bidding," McMahon said.
The January bidding round was Libya's first since relations started to thaw between Tripoli and Washington in April 2004.
Separately, El-Badri also said September 8, the Libyan government plans to sell a 60% stake in state-owned oil company Tamoil.
Libyan prime minister Shukri Ghanem said also the government plans to sell a 60 pct stake in the state-owned oil company Tamoil.
The group has refineries in Italy (Cremona), Germany (Hamburg) and Switzerland (Collombey), in addition to distribution networks in Italy, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Spain, according to its website.
In 2004, the company had sales of 7.801 bln euro in 2004 and 2,967 petrol stations.
Source: Dow Jones
