Italy’s oil and gas giant Eni is the only international oil company still producing in war-torn Libya, it emerged recently.
Due to escalating violence in the last two months, foreign producers such as France’s Total, Spain’s Repsol and Marathon Oil of the U.S., have all suspended production onshore the North African country, with the exception of Eni.
Eni has been able to keep rpoduction at near capacity, thanks to security arrangements it made on the ground, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal.Â
Located near a jihadi training camp, an Eni pipeline, which carries around 10% of Italy’s natural gas supplies, is currently protected by a militia called Western Shield that is part of Libya Dawn, one of the Libyan factions fighting for control in the country, the WSJ reported.
Eni has hired a local nomadic people called the Tubus to provide security for its local joint-venture in the Sahara Desert, while youths in Zintan, a city allied with Libya Dawn’s rival in Baida, are protecting Wafa field operations in the South.
