Tripoli looks to partners for refineries’ expansion

Like many African countries, Libya has its share of refining projects that have never been built, but the authorities’ new enthusiasm for joint ventures has seen the pace pick up. Now’s the time to see how long investors’ pockets really are

Libya has turned to foreign partnerships to help it develop its downstream sector, and is showing strong appetite for joint ventures after a period in which several projects fell apart over failure to agree terms. Now, at last, there are signs that long-awaited projects are getting off the ground to add value to National Oil Corporation (NOC)’s crude and target markets in North Africa, Europe and further afield.

Privatisation and Investment Secretary Mahmud Al-Ftise told the Middle East Association’s Libya Opportunity and Challenge III conference in London on 23 July that Libya was working on attracting external investment totalling around $2.7bn in the downstream oil industry. This is a relatively modest sum given the scale of projects mooted by Libya and its more enthusiastic partners – perhaps reflecting the new mood of reality apparent in Tripoli.

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