Eni and Libya’s NOC launch offshore gas project boosting country’s energy output

Italy’s Eni and the Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC) have started operations at Sabratha Compression project, as the North African country seeks to boost its hydrocarbons output.

The move is aimed at sustaining and increasing gas output from the declining Bahr Essalam gasfield, Eni said on Monday.

The project consists of the installation of a 1,600-tonne compression module on the Sabratha platform with new compression trains, providing an overall compression capacity of about 440 million standard cubic feet per day.

The new module “enables production under low-pressure conditions, offsetting the natural decline of the Bahr Essalam field and maximising gas recovery”, Eni said.

This will ensure increased volumes of gas of about 800 million cubic metres per year and associated condensate.

The additional production will play a “critical role in sustaining national power generation, reinforcing Libya’s energy security, and supporting export to Italy via the Greenstream pipeline”, Eni added.

The successful start-up of the project “confirms Eni and NOC’s commitment to timely deliver complex offshore developments, even in challenging environments”, the statement said.

“The project strengthens the resilience of Libya’s gas infrastructure and represents a tangible contribution to the stability and growth of the country’s energy sector,” it added.

Libya has been boosting its energy sector, with oil production increasing to 1.43 million barrels per day in April, the highest level in more than a decade.

Libya aims to increase production to 1.6 million bpd by the end of the year, 1.8 million bpd by 2027 and two million bpd by 2030.

The Opec member has also awarded oil and gas exploration blocks to foreign energy companies, including Chevron, Eni, QatarEnergy and Repsol.

Eni, which has been present in Libya since 1959, has an equity production of approximately 162,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2025 and three development projects currently in execution for a total investment of about $10 billion.

Its two additional projects in the country include the Bouri Gas Utilisation project and Structures A&E, whose execution is under way to develop two offshore gasfields.