US oil giants return to Libya
2005-12-30 19:56
New York - Three United States oil majors have reached agreement to resume their former oil and gas production operations in Libya.
After stock trading closed on Thursday, Marathon Oil, ConocoPhillips and Amerada Hess said in a statement that they had reached the accord with Libya after suspending their activities in the country in 1986.
State-run Libyan National Oil Corp would hold 59.16% of the venture in Libya's Waha concessions, ConocoPhillips and Marathon Oil would each hold 16.33%, and Amerada Hess would hold 8.16%.
The concessions produced about 350 000 barrels of oil a day and encompassed almost 13 million acres located in the Sirte Basin, which the US companies said, "contains sizeable undeveloped oil and gas resources".
The companies agreed to pay $1.3bn to restart their participation.
- AFP