Libya’s oil still tantalises

Tripoli wants to accelerate the award of exploration territory. A new ? fourth ? version of the country?s Exploration and Production Sharing Agreement (Epsa-4) is to be introduced in the first half of this year; blocks are to be offered for bids individually, instead of in large packages; bid procedures will be made more transparent; a new model contract will be drawn up; and National Oil Corporation (NOC) is to be reorganised, Martin Quinlan writes

OIL FIRMS have heard similar promises before, since UN sanctions against Libya were suspended in April 1999 and President Muammar Qadhafi set the course for the expansion of oil output. (UN sanctions were lifted in September; US sanctions remain in force, but, following Libya's offer in December to give up its weapons of mass destruction, are expected to be lifted before long.) However, last year undoubtedly saw progress in the award of exploration licences. As Table 1 shows, 18 blocks were awarded during the year in three tranches. Before last year's awards, only six or fewer blocks had been awarded in total since the offer, in November 1999, of 96 exploration blocks, followed by 40 more in