Italy, Libya Sign $8 Billion Gas Deal as Prime Minister Meloni Visits TripoliItalian multinational oil and gas company ENI's CEO Claudio Descalzi (front L) and Libyan National Oil Corporation chief Farhat Bengdara (2nd R) sign a bilateral agreement during a ceremony attended by Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (back 2nd L) and Libya's Tripoli-based Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah (C) in the Libyan capital on Jan. 28, 2023. During the visit, the two countries’ oil companies signed a gas deal worth $8 billion—the largest single investment in Libya’s energy sector in more than two decades. Libya is the second North African country that Premier Giorgia Meloni, three months in office, visited this week. She is seeking to secure new supplies of natural gas to replace Russian energy amid Moscow’s war on Ukraine. Instability, increased domestic demand and underinvestment has hampered Libya’s gas deliveries abroad, according to Matteo Villa of the Milan-based ISPI think tank.

Source: Libya Today January 29, 2023 16:48 UTC