UAE's XRG in Talks to Acquire Stake in Eni's Libya Oil and Gas Business

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On October 22, XRG, the international investment platform under Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) of the UAE, was reported to be in preliminary talks with Italian energy company Eni to acquire a partial stake in Eni's oil and gas operations in Libya. The information came from two people familiar with the matter, and neither party has confirmed the transaction arrangements. Eni's 2025 equity oil and gas production in Libya is approximately 162,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, accounting for about 10% of the group's total output. The relevant operations involve multiple producing oil and gas fields and offshore natural gas development projects.

Eni conducts local oil and gas production through Mellitah Oil & Gas, a joint venture established with Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC), with each party holding a 50% stake in the joint venture. Existing assets include the Bouri oil field and the Bahr Essalam gas field in offshore western Libya, and the A&E Structures offshore gas development project is currently being advanced. On October 19, Eni announced the completion of construction for the Bouri associated gas recovery project, which adds approximately 700 million standard cubic meters per year of gas recovery capacity; startup procedures are currently underway.

XRG focuses on investing in natural gas, chemicals, and energy solutions, and plans to expand its annual LNG production capacity to 20 million–25 million tonnes by 2035. XRG and Eni are already collaborating on an LNG project in Argentina, jointly participating in project development with the local state energy company YPF. The current negotiations over the Libya business stake represent a potential upstream oil and gas asset transaction outside the two parties' existing cooperation, and the specific asset scope and equity arrangements remain subject to further negotiations.