BP expanding its oil interest in Libya
BP will be looking to expand its energy interests in Libya. The energy market is expected to boom in Libya, as
British companies begin to invest more heavily in the country.
Currently BP is looking to begin oil drilling in the area, and has already begun seismic testings in anticipation of
the project. If the testing goes well, the company may begin drilling as early as next year, and has already begun
looking to secure contracts for well construction.
"Our initial investment in the joint venture is $ 900 mm (£ 545 mm) but if we find oil investment could rise to
$ 20 bn over the next two decades," a spokesman for BP said.
BG Group, a UK-based gas producer, has also been investing in Libya's gas reserves since as early as 2005. The two
companies began looking to Libya for oil after former Prime Minister Tony Blair visited the country to improve upon
once strained relations between the two governments.
Reports have found that Libya is well endowed with the majority of Africa's oil, and the country's oil reserves have,
as of yet, not been fully developed. Libya relies heavily on profits from oil sales, and overseas investments could
help the nation to capitalise on its oil stock.
BP has said that out-of-date drilling techniques are leaving oil wells in Libya still full of oil hurting the
country's profit margins.
"Using our technologies we can increase recovery rates threefold," the BP spokesman said.
"Most of the oil does not sit in a pool at the bottom of a well where it can be sucked out but becomes embodied in
the sand and has to be prised out."
