Yushchenko: Ukraine Will Produce Oil in Libya

The Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said that Ukraine had clinched an agreement to develop an oil field in Libya. He made the statement during his April 12 interview on the ICTV television channel while discussing his recent visit to Libya.                                                                                                                               Yushchenko said that during his talks with the Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi, he had discussed “five or six key sectors of our relations.” “We would like Ukraine to take part in Libyan oil development, so that we can produce more oil of our own. We have agreed that one of the four oil fields that had been allotted to Ukraine in 2003 and later had been lost, would be restored to us.” Yushchenko said that oil exploration and development in Libya will be carried out by Naftogaz, Ukraine’s national oil and gas company.

The president also said that during Gaddafi’s upcoming visit to Ukraine, the two leaders would discuss an eventual construction of a Libyan oil refinery in Ukraine.

UNIAN reference: On Oct. 10, 2004, Naftogaz and the National Oil Corporation of Libya signed a production sharing agreement which has not yet been ratified by the Libyan government. The agreement allowed Naftogaz to produce oil in Libya for 30 years and to produce gas for 25 years.

Libya’s proved reserves amount to 5 billion tons of light sweet crude and 1,300 billion cubic meters of gas. Currently, Libya’s gas reserves are almost undeveloped: the country produces as little as 7 billion cubic meters of gas a year. It is estimated that only 25 percent of Libya’s potential oil and gas resources has been discovered yet.

Libya is one of the five African OPEC members and the major oil supplier to the European market.