TRIPOLI: British energy giants BP Plc and Shell Plc signed agreements with Libya’s National Oil Corp (NOC) to study new opportunities, joining international majors accelerating their return to the oil-rich African nation.
BP, which has pivoted away from its failed low-carbon strategy to focus more on fossil fuels, signed a memorandum of understanding to study reviving two huge oil fields in Libya, it said in a statement.
The document outlines a framework for how the energy companies might work together and assess a range of technical data.
Separately, a Shell spokesman confirmed the company has signed a memorandum of understanding with NOC “to study potential opportunities in the country’s oil and gas sector.”
The focus on Libya, a member of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, comes as the North African nation tries to bring back oil majors that left.
Libya has struggled to quell unrest since the 2011 fall of longtime dictator Moammar Qaddafi. — Bloomberg
