Tripoli has restarted work on a $54bn scheme to turn the Gulf of Sirte into an industrial and energy hub and plans to open talks with potential investors in a series of oil refining, gas export, petrochemicals and real estate projects by the end of September.

We have reactivated the masterplan for the energy cities at El-Brega and Ras Lanuf

Abdullah Mahmud, Energy Cities Development Company

In June, the government created two new companies to help move forward its plans for the region, which include two giant ‘energy cities’ at the coastal towns of Marsa el-Brega and Ras Lanuf.

The first company is the Energy Cities Development Company, which will oversee the implementation of a masterplan developed by the US’ Fluor for the government. It will take over this role from the Economic and Social Development Fund (ESDF), which was previously in charge the project.

The second company is called the Oil & Gas Industry Development and Investment Company. It will invest directly in the projects planned for the scheme either with international partners or as a sole equity holder.

MEED reported in February that the energy cities project faced delays of up to six months while the ESDF sought approval from Libyan Prime Minister, Baghdadi Mahmudi, to form the new holding and investment companies.

“We have reactivated the master plan for the energy cities at El-Brega and Ras Lanuf,” says Abdullah Mahmud, the newly appointed chairman of the Energy Cities Development Company.  

“A lot of work has been done by Fluor and ESDF and this has now been transferred to Energy Cities Development Company. The Oil & Gas Industry Development and Investment Company will invest in master plan projects alone or in partnership with foreign investors. The decision to create a new holding company dedicated to the development of the project was taken to ensure uninterrupted master plan implementation.“

The company will start talks with potential investors after the close of Ramadan, Mahmudi says. It will be helped by Fluor, which developed the master plan and will work as a consultant on the project, while working on site preparation and feedstock studies on a project-by-project basis.

The plans for the energy cities date back to July 2007, when the ESDF commissioned Fluor Corporation to draw up a masterplan to overhaul Ras Lanuf and Marsa el-Brega. Fluor’s brief was to create two giant industrial clusters based around the oil, gas and petrochemicals industries.

Currently, Sirte Oil Company, a subsidiary of the state-energy firm National Oil Company (NOC), has a 9,000-barrel-a-day (b/d) refinery at Marsa el-Brega, along with liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities and plants producing ammonia, methanol and urea.

Further along the coast, Ras Lanuf Oil & Gas Processing Company (Rasco), another NOC subsidiary, has a 220,000-b/d refinery linked to a petrochemicals plant producing propylene, which in turn is converted into the basic plastic polyethylene.

Under Fluor’s plans, the capacity of the petrochemicals plants at Marsa el-Brega will be increased by 25 per cent and the LNG plant’s production will almost triple to 550 million cubic feet a day In the first of three overlapping phases to be completed over a 15 year period.

At the same time, the capacity of the existing petrochemicals plant at Ras Lanuf will be increased by 50 per cent and polyethylene capacity by 25 per cent. Production of another basic plastic, polypropylene, will also be added.

Later phases in the masterplan will give Marsa el-Brega production facilities for polyvinyl chloride pipes, as well as detergents and rolling facilities for reinforcement steel bars for the construction industry.

Ras Lanuf will gain a natural gas liquids unit to provide feedstock for a planned 20-million-tonne-a-year (t/y) petrochemicals complex, along with a cracker and LNG facilities. Plants producing carbon anodes and polysilicon, which are used to make solar panels, will also be built, as will an aluminium plant. Other, non-oil-related industries, such as concrete and ceramics production facilities, are also planned.

The area’s infrastructure will also be upgraded. The airports at both towns will be expanded, new port facilities will be added and 1,560MW of power generation will be made available.

In all, the masterplan envisages the creation of 41,958 jobs through direct employment by 2024, with the population of the towns increasing to a combined 118,500.

The plan also includes the construction of 29,000 new homes at Ras Lanuf and Marsa el-Brega and a five star hotel resort at Al-Egaila, a village on the road between the two.