Fayez al-Sarraj, Head of the Presidential Council of the Libyan Government of National Accord, met with Eni’s CEO Claudio Descalzi

Claudio Descalzi also met with the Chairman of National Oil Corporation Mustafa Sanalla

Tripoli (Libya), 3 November 2018 - The Head of the Presidential Council of the Libyan Government of National Accord, Fayez al-Sarraj, met with the Chief Executive Officer of Eni, Claudio Descalzi, in Tripoli today. In a previous meeting Mr Descalzi met with the Chairman of Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC), Mustafa Sanalla. Both meetings focused on enhanced cooperation opportunities and Eni’s longstanding commitment to Libya.

During the meetings the parties had the opportunity to discuss the general situation of the country, addressing the security situation in particular. Claudio Descalzi confirmed Eni’s enduring commitment to continue activities and exploration in the country. Both Mr Sarraj and Mr Sanalla expressed their appreciation for Eni’s strong stand with the Libyan people, and with NOC.

Eni’s CEO outlined the company’s demonstrated commitment in the power generation sector, focusing in particular on technical assistance activities undertaken for the maintenance of power plants in the region around Tripoli as a clear demonstration of the company’s country-level support. Eni is the main supplier of gas for power generation to the local Libyan market, dedicated entirely to fueling country’s power plants, with an electricity generation capacity of over 3 gigawatts (GW).

During the meeting with the NOC Chairman, the status of Eni's current in-country projects was discussed, including the recently commenced (July) Bahr Essalam Phase 2 project, and activities pertaining to the outstanding seven wells – with their completion expected by the end of 2018.

The progress of the compression capacity upgrading project at Wafa plant was also discussed, with the first gas expected to come on stream during the next few days; a clear indication that projects can be successfully implemented even in the remote onshore areas of the Libyan territory.

Respective CEOs took stock of the recently signed Exploration and Production Sharing Agreement ("EPSA") negotiations, following the letter of intent (LOI) agreement signed between Eni, NOC and BP in October for the assignment of 42.5% of ENI’s second party share stake and Operatorship in the EPSA. The EPSA aims to restart exploration activities in the first half of 2019.

The chairman of NOC and Eni’s CEO finally took the opportunity to discuss important future projects, in particular the development of the ‘A’ & ‘E’ offshore facilities. The tender for the engineering study is expected to be launched shortly. The implementation of this project will make possible the extension of the gas production plateau from the Libyan offshore, with considerable potential savings for the country possible regarding the import of liquid fuels.

The opportunity and need to train a considerable number of young Libyans, in parallel with the relaunch of investments in the country, and as part of current and future projects was discussed, with the objective to enhance their professional skills and competences in the industrial sector, and in the oil sector particularly.

Eni is the largest international hydrocarbon producer in Libya, where it currently produces 280,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in equity.