Russia’s Gazprom Neft is considering whether to return to exploration at the Elephant field in Libya, and will make up its mind before the year is out.
“As far as Libya and the Elephant project are concerned, it is still of interest… A decision will be taken by the year-end on whether to enter or exit it,” Alexander Dyukov, CEO of Gazprom’s oil arm, told reporters, reports Reuters.
The company has previously said it would not consider re-entering Libya until there is a “legitimate” government in place. Elections are slated to take place within weeks.
According to its website, Gazprom is involved in three projects in Libya: the development of offshore site number 19 under production sharing terms (commencement of drilling was planned for mid-2011); area number 64 in the oil-and-gas-bearing Ghadames Basin (predrilling at the first well took place in January 2011) and oil concessions C96 and C97 in partnership with Germany’s Wintershall.
Total output from the two concessions (within the scope of Gazprom’s 49% share) in 2010 amounted to 2 million tons of oil and gas condensate and 227 million cubic metres of gas.
