BP and Eni interested in Greek Nat Gas

The eyes of BP and Eni through Libya are on Greek natural gas fields, since they see the upcoming discoveries as an opportunity to meet Europe’s great energy needs.

As reported to “NEA” newspaper by well-informed sources with a role in the ongoing investigations to identify possible natural gas targets in the maritime concessions of Crete and the Ionian Sea, “the recent statements of the president of the state oil company of Libya (NOC) regarding the intention to propose to Greece and Egypt the development of pipelines, were not accidental…”.

Farhat Bengdara during his November 2 interview with CNBC Asia said that Libya’s state oil company is considering building pipelines to carry natural gas to Egypt and Greece. He even claimed Libya’s entry into the EastMed Gas Forum, where the two aforementioned countries, Israel, France, Italy, Jordan and Palestine participate, in order to facilitate the development of natural gas infrastructure in the Eastern Mediterranean.

8 billion deal

A day earlier, the NOC chairman at an energy conference in Abu Dhabi announced an $8 billion deal with Italian energy major Eni to develop a gas field in Western Libya.

It should be noted that Eni has discovered in Egypt the largest natural gas field in the Southeast Mediterranean, Zor in Egypt, with a size of 30 trillion cubic feet (850 billion cubic meters). Bengdara also announced a second agreement with Eni and the other major energy giant, BP, to develop an offshore field in the Mediterranean.

According to the president of NOC, Libya’s gas reserves are estimated at 80 trillion cubic feet (2 trillion cubic meters).

natural gasSources speaking to “NEA” believe that behind the statements of the NOC official are the two oil giants Eni and BP who are seeking the energy supply of thirsty Europe.

According to the same sources, on the one hand the proposal for a pipeline in Greece shows the groups’ assessments of the existence of important deposits in Greece, on the other hand the goal of the multinationals is the synergies with the oil companies that are investigating the concessions for the transport to Europe of quantities of natural gas that will be discovered in Crete and the Ionian Sea.

Estimates

According to estimates that have come to the fore in Greece, the targets that have been identified in the maritime concessions hide around 70 to 90 trillion cubic feet (2 to 2.5 trillion cubic meters) of natural gas. Of course, nothing can be certain unless drilling is done.

Europe’s natural gas needs are great after the drastic limitation of Russian exports, which before the crisis reached about 170 billion cubic meters.

Today Europe’s needs are being covered through LNG. The nominal capacity of the infrastructure in 2021 was 144 billion cubic meters. The degree of efficiency is around 66% and this practically means that the actual capacity is 95 billion cubic meters.