It seems Indonesia’s Medco Energi is not quitting Libya after all. The leading partner in Libya’s long-stalled 50,000 b/d North Hamada development on Area 47 (MEES, 31 May 2019), Medco (25%), met up with project partners NOC (50%) and Libyan Investment Authority (LIA, 25%) in Istanbul earlier this week to reach a “consensus on the continuity of implementing this project,” according to a 23 November NOC statement.
Medco was still looking for buyers as recently as its first half results released 3 October after initially announcing its intention to quit Libya in January following its exit from neighboring Tunisia (MEES, 10 January). The firm may well have been frustrated with its inability to lift the project off the ground due to nearly a decade of political instability (MEES, 27 November): though NOC was also frustrated with Medco’s lack of action when Libya enjoyed a period of relative stability and other firms returned to the upstream in 2012 and 2013 (MEES, 22 February 2013). Medco was handed operatorship of Area 47 in 2010 after former leading partner, Canada’s Verenex, was pushed aside and its shares transferred to the LIA in a dubious Gaddafi-era deal (MEES, 4 January 2010). (CONTINUED - 225 WORDS)