03 December 2012, Sweetcrude, Tripoli – Italian energy group, Eni has resumed onshore exploration activities in Libya as the player’s post-war ramp-up continues.
The Milanese explorer said it had spud the A1-108/4 well in the Sirte Basin, situated around 300 kilometres south of Benghazi.
In the first well of an onshore programme to continue into next year, the probe is to drill to a total depth of 14,500 feet to test a new geological play in the EPSA IV 2008 Contract Area A, Eni said.
Onshore Libya, Eni holds a 50% operatorship stake in Area A and a similar stake in Area B and Area F. It also holds a one-third stake in Area E, which contains the high-profile Elephant field.
The Italian company says it was the first to resume production in Libya in September 2011, months after the civil war that toppled former leader Muammar Gaddafi, through its Mellitah Oil & Gas venture with state player National Oil Corporation (NOC).
Eni lifted its force majeure status in Libya this time last year, at a time when output had already reached two-thirds of its pre-output levels of 280,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day.
