On December 9, Gazprom was declared as the hydrocarbon exploration & development tender winner for onshore Block 64 (Blocks 1, 2 and 3) located in the Libyan Ghadames Basin.

With 16 bidders involved, the tender was organized by the Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC).

The project is planned to be funded with over US$ 100 mln to be used for geological exploration purposes. According to the preliminary estimations the Block 64 oil reserves are 20 mln tons.

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The fourth-largest in Africa after Algeria, Nigeria and Egypt, Libya’s proven natural gas reserves account for some 1.49 tcm. The country’s annual production stands at 7 bcm, with 83 per cent consumed domestically and the remaining 17 per cent exported.

Libya is the first African and fifth OPEC (preceded by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE and Iraq) country in terms of the proven reserves of light sweet crude oil (5 bln t).

Founded in 1970, the Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC) is currently engaged in hydrocarbon exploration and production on the territory of Libya. NOC owns a petrochemicals compound in Ras Lanuf and a string of refineries.

On December 20, 2006 Gazprom was declared as the tender winner for Block 19 situated in Libya’s Mediterranean Sea offshore as a result of Gazprom participating in the third round of open hydrocarbon exploration & development tender within the PSA terms and conditions.

The Block #19 area is 10288 km. The project is planned to be funded with over US$ 200 mln to be used for geological exploration purposes

Developing Block 19 in the Mediterranean Sea offshore will be Gazprom’s second-largest project in Libya. The first project will be executed under a framework asset swap agreement between Gazprom and BASF. Under the agreement, the Russian side will receive a 49 per cent stake in Wintershall Holding that annually recovers some 5 mln t of oil in Libya.