Libya's Bouri gas project to start production in September to boost local gas supply, NOC says

Eni SpA

06/05/2026 24:15

TRIPOLI, May 6 (Reuters) - Libya's Mellitah Oil and Gas Company has completed the manufacturing and assembly of units of the Bouri Gas Utilisation Project, aiming to utilise more than 120 million cubic feet per day of natural gas, the country's National Oil Company said on Tuesday.

Mellitah is a joint venture between NOC and Italy's Eni ENI.MI, with a daily production of approximately 440,000 barrels of oil equivalent, according to the company's website.

The North African country's gas production has reached about 2.5 billion cubic feet per day.

"The project is scheduled to start actual production in September 2026, contributing effectively to boosting gas supplies to the local market and exporting the surplus," NOC said in a statement.

The gas utilisation is also aimed to reach a "zero level" of burning at the Bouri field.

The Bouri is an offshore field, about 130 km in the north of the capital, Tripoli.

Mellitah said in a separate statement that this step comes after preparatory works, which included a comprehensive rehabilitation of the platform to convert it from an oil platform to a gas platform.

NOC said the units, coming via sea from Italy's Ravenna, are expected to arrive after 10 days, "then the heavy lifting operations and complex technical connection to platforms 3 and 4 would begin."

In August 2023, the Italian energy services group Saipem SPMI.MI said it won the contract in Libya worth around $1 billion for the development of the Bouri field.

Libya's economy relies on oil for more ⁠than ​95% of its economic output.

(Reporting by Ahmed Elumami; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)

((ahmed.elumami@thomsonreuters.com; @AhmedElumai;))