Huge hydrocarbon deposits extend through Libya’s vast territory.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The USGS data referred to in this article was presented as news in an earlier publication; however, the discovery was made some time ago
Oil and gas production will remain a fundamental component of Libya’s economy in the “foreseeable future,” an International Monetary Fund mission said in this month’s report.
Hydrocarbon production in Libya, North Africa’s second largest oil producer, is projected to grow by around 15% in 2023, following an increase in oil production from 1 million barrels per day in 2022 to around 1.2 million barrels per day this year, the IMF said.
Previous reports confirm the country’s vast resources. The US Geological Survey (USGS) report assessing undiscovered conventional oil and gas fields in North Africa revealed massive hydrocarbon deposits within the Pelagian Basin in Tunisia and western Libya, and the Sirte Basin in Libya.
The first giant deposit extends along the eastern Tunisian coast with a smaller part located on-shore and the rest embedded off the coast. It runs from the shores of the city of Bizerte and the Gulf of Tunis, through to the city of Misrata.
Another field was discovered in Libya’s Gulf of Sidra off the coast of Sirte, according to the USGS.
According to the US government agency’s assessment, the deposits in two provinces of North Africa contain a total of 3.97 billion barrels of undiscovered oil, 38.5 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered natural gas, and 1.47 billion barrels of undiscovered natural gas liquids.
In 2021, Libya was the seventh-largest OPEC crude oil producer and the third-largest in Africa, after Nigeria and Algeria, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). Libya holds 3% of the world’s proven oil reserves and 39% of Africa’s proven reserves.
The EIA estimates that Tunisia’s formations hold 23 trillion cubic feet of proven shale gas reserves and 1.5 billion barrels of technically recoverable shale oil resources.
