Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) has reached an $8 billion deal with Italy’s Eni for offshore gas exploration and production, which will be signed on Saturday at an official ceremony, as said by the NOC head, Farhat Bengdara.

The $8 billion contract is required to produce up to 850 million cubic feet of gas daily from the Mediterranean, amid Libya’s efforts to take advantage of the demand for North African gas in Europe because of the war in Ukraine.

Speaking to the local al-Masar television in an interview, Bengdara said the contract was a renewal of an existing agreement initially affected in 2008.

ENI is an abbreviation for Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi which translates to “State Hydrocarbons Authority”. It is an Italian energy company that operates primarily in petroleum, natural gas, and petrochemicals. It was established in 1953 and is one of the largest oil companies in Europe as per sales, with operations in more than 70 countries. It is headquartered in Rome.

National Oil Corporation (NOC) is Libya’s national oil company, the dominant force in the country’s oil industry with a combination of other smaller subsidiaries accounts for 70% of its oil output. Among NOC’s subsidiaries is the Waha Oil Company (WOC), the largest oil producer. 

According to an Italian source, the Chief Executive, of ENI, Claudio Descalzi could travel to Libya by reason of signing the agreement. However, there could be challenges from Libya’s eastern-based parliament on the legality of any deals signed by Bengdara or the Government of National Unity in Tripoli. 

For a country that was once Africa’s biggest oil reserve, Libya plans on boosting its oil production by two billion barrels daily, as against its current output of 1.2.