US company finds new gas near Libya

The US petroleum firm Hess recently found new gas deposits off the Libyan coast in the Gulf of Sirte, Libya’s National Oil Corp (NOC) announced on Thursday.

According to a statement from Hess, tests carried out by the company indicate an output of “27 million cubic feet (756,000 cubic metres) of good quality gas.”

Hess confirmed the report on its website saying it had “carried out a successful test of its discovery well A1-54/01 offshore Libya in the Mediterranean Sea.”

The discovery was made by Hess Libya Exploration Limited which holds a 100 percent working interest in the well as part of an exploration and production sharing agreement with NOC, it said.

Libya is Africa’s third-largest oil producer after Nigeria and Angola at 1.7 million barrels of oil a day and has estimated reserves of 42 billion barrels.

It is also seeking to develop its natural gas production, with proven reserves estimated at 1.540 billion cubic metres, according to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Libyan natural gas exports nearly doubled from 5.4 billion cubic metres in 2005 to more than 10 billion cubic metres per year, according to OPEC.