Kuwait Energy, an ambitious private sector explorer with major oil and gas assets in Egypt and Iraq, has held a workshop with Libyan oil and gas to share insights on reconstructing Libya’s oil industry after 2011’s civil war.
The move is part of the company’s drive to forge good relations with key Libyan oil personnel. In a February interview with Reuters, CEO Sara Akbar said the company is currently in “discussions and building positive relations” with Libyan officials.
Managers, engineers, planners and specialists from the Libyan National Oil Company (NOC), the Arabian Gulf Oil Company (AGOCO), the Sirte Oil Company (SOC), Ras Lanuf Oil & Gas Processing Company (RASCO), and the Waha Oil Company (WOC) visited Kuwait Oil Company facilities and heard from experts from Kuwait Energy and Kuwait’s national oil companies.
The workshop, held jointly between Kuwait energy and state companies KAFCO, KGOC and EQUATE, featured presentations from Kuwait Energy’s CEO Sara Akbar, Kuwait Energy’s Advisor to the Chairman, Mr. Mohammed Al Jazzaf, Kuwait Aviation Fuel Company (KAFCO) Chairman and Managing Director, Mr. Asaad Al Saad, Kuwait Gulf Oil Company (KGOC) Chairman and Managing Director, Mr. Hashim Al Refai, Kuwait Energy Board Director, Chairman and CEO of YAA Consultancy, Dr. Yousef Al Awadhi, and finally by EQUATE President and CEO, Mr. Mohammed Hussein.
Akbar said, “Libya’s energy sector has been tremendously affected during the years of autocratic ruling that overlooked the development of the industry. With the downfall of the regime, Libyans have begun to rebuild this vital sector. Kuwait Energy took the initiative, capitalizing on Kuwait’s expert team in post-war rebuilding, to extend support to Libya’s energy sector by providing its team with case studies, insights and solutions that would help ease Libya’s future transition.”
Akbar has personal experience of redeveloping oil infrastructure, having help to extinguish several of the oil field fires started by Saddam Hussein’s retreating army at the end of the first Gulf War.
Libya has recovered it’s pre-war oil production level, though several field facilities remain damaged by fighting, mining and looting which occured during the war. A panel established by the interim government is reviewing current oil contracts and interim ministers say there will be no new oil contracts awarded until the election of a new government, which is due with weeks.
