OMV Confirms Commercial Viability of Libya's Essar Oilfield, Recoverable Resources Up to 45 Million Barrels

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 16, Austrian energy company OMV announced that after completing technical and economic evaluation, its operated Essar oil and gas discovery in Libya has been confirmed to have commercial development value. The discovery is located in the C103 concession area of the Sirte Basin. OMV's latest estimate places the field's total recoverable oil resources at up to approximately 45 million barrels, with total production capacity expected to reach approximately 6,000 barrels per day after full development. OMV holds a 12% interest in the C103 concession area, and subsequent reservoir development work will be managed by Zueitina Oil Company.

Essar corresponds to exploration well B1-106/4, located in Contract Area 106/4 in the eastern Sirte Basin, approximately 6 kilometers west of the Intisar 103D field and approximately 364 kilometers from Benghazi. The well was drilled to a total depth of 10,476 feet and represents OMV's first oil and gas discovery in the area since acquiring Block 106/4 in 2008. Libya's National Oil Corporation previously disclosed that OMV resumed exploration activities in Libya at the end of 2024 after a hiatus of more than a decade and completed this new exploration well in the area.

Well B1-106/4 encountered oil and gas flows in two reservoirs, the Upper Sabil and Lower Sabil. The Upper Sabil test interval, located between 9,658 and 10,033 feet, tested at approximately 2,000 barrels of crude oil per day and approximately 1.6 million cubic feet of natural gas per day on a 32/64-inch choke. The Lower Sabil test interval, located between 10,250 and 10,291 feet, tested at approximately 2,200 barrels of crude oil per day and approximately 1 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. The crude oil from both zones has an API gravity of approximately 42 degrees. Combined initial test production from the two zones exceeded 4,200 barrels of crude oil per day and more than 2.6 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.

Libya's National Oil Corporation announced in July of this year that the Essar discovery had passed development plan evaluation and met commercial development conditions, with the figure cited at that time being approximately 195 million barrels of combined oil reserves in the Upper Sabil and Lower Sabil reservoirs, with an expected production capacity of approximately 5,000 barrels per day. In its latest announcement on September 16, OMV updated the project figures to up to 45 million barrels of total recoverable resources and projected approximately 6,000 barrels per day of total production capacity after full development.

OMV stated that the Essar reservoir is adjacent to existing production and processing facilities, and subsequent development can leverage surrounding existing infrastructure to connect to the production system. OMV's 2025 annual report previously disclosed that the discovery is planned to be developed by connecting to nearby existing facilities; the report also recorded that the Essar well completed testing in October 2025, with a commercial test flow rate of approximately 4,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

After Essar enters the commercial development phase, the specific construction and production implementation entity will be transferred to Zueitina Oil Company. Currently, the oil and gas discovery, testing, and technical and economic evaluation have been completed, and the next phase will enter reservoir development and connection engineering with existing production and processing facilities.