Algeria’s state-owned Sonatrach denied on Wednesday recent media reports claiming the company suspended its operations in Libya and transported its equipment to Algeria.
Algerian media outlets reported Sonatrach’s affirmation that it’s partnership with the Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC) to drill seven oil wells in Libya is still ongoing.
The Algerian company returned to Libya relatively soon after the 2011 civil war to explore for oil in the Ghadmes basin, in block 65, where Sonatrach held a 25-percent stake that was awarded to it back in 2005.
Earlier in 2018, Sonatrach and NOC signed a deal for the joint exploration of two fields, one on the Algerian side and one on the Libyan side, which may turn out to be a single field.
Despite continued political instability and a deep economic crisis, NOC has ambitious goals by the end of 2019, chairperson of the NOC Mustafa Sanalla told Bloomberg in October.
The corporation plans to pump 1.6 million bpd of crude, the level of production from the times before the 2011 civil war.
