Libya Increases Focus on Natural Gas

Libya plans to boost production of natural gas and is studying options to explore unconventional reserves, National Oil Co. Chairman Nuri Berruien said.

Country’s current gas output is 2.5 billion cubic meters a day of gas and the aim is to reach full capacity of 3 billion cubic meters per a day by the start of next year, Berruien told Bloomberg in an interview.

“Gas has never been a priority for us, but it is now,” Berruien said. “We may have some of the most important shale gas deposits in the world.”

Libya may hold as much as 290 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable shale gas, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the eighth largest in the world.

“Right now we are evaluating the reserves and talking to our partners,” Berruien told the news agancy. “The potential is definitely there.”