Sirte to retender Libya's first LNG plant

11 December 2007
Libya’s state-owned Sirte Oil Company (SOC) is about to retender the construction contract for the country’s only liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant.

SOC will issue an invitation to tender for the $300m contract to upgrade the Marsa al-Brega plant in the northeast in early 2008, according to a senior project source.
“The invitation to tender for the engineering, procurement (EPC) contract will be sent out early in the new year,” says a senior executive at the UK/Dutch Shell Group.
Shell is providing technical services to SOC for the project, which will extend the lifespan of the 25,000-barrel-a-day facility by at least 25 years.
“We have been doing some further technical definition and preparing the bid documents for SOC,” says the executive.
Contractors originally submitted applications to prequalify for the construction contract in September 2006, but were not advised of the success or otherwise of their bids.
SOC and Shell signed a technical services agreement as part of a memorandum of understanding in 2005.
Shell is about to drill its first well on its Sirte basin acreage in the northeast, according to the executive.
“We are looking at a spud date [when the drill will first break the ground] in early 2008,” says the executive. “The rig arrived about two weeks ago and is on its way to its first location.”
Germany’s KCA Deutag is supplying the rig.
The Libyan National Oil Well Drilling & Workover Company will supply a second rig later in 2008 and three or four wells will be drilled by the end of the year.
The exploration programme is part of the proposed expansion of the Marsa al-Brega facility, and the possible construction of a new LNG plant at Ras Lanuf (MEED 23:11:07).
Shell’s activities are covered by a framework agreement signed with state-owned National Oil Corporation in 2005.
Shell was awarded two further blocks in the Sirte basin in Libya’s fourth exploration and production round. The award was made on 9 December (MEED 10:12:07).

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