The Spanish operator - which signed in November 1999 an exploration agreement for NC-186 with the National Oil Corporation (NOC)- has submitted a plan to put two of the wells into production. The A-1 and B-1 wells are located in the centre of NC-186 within 40 kilometres of the 165,000-b/d El-Sharara field, where production is set to increase to 200,000 b/d of oil in 2002.

Repsol's operating partners are NOC, Austria's OMV, France's TotalFinaElf and Saga Petroleum, now part of Norway's Norsk Hydro. The company is also the operator of exploration blocks NC-187 and NC-190, and is negotiating with NOC to acquire one of the new licences on offer (Oil & Gas, MEED Special Report, 20:10:00, pages 38-39).