Shell Evaluates Sirte Find

Shell was evaluating a shallow water gas discovery in the Libyan Gulf of Sirte, as of the time of our going to press. The unnamed well is located inshore of Hess’ March 2010 discovery as well as BP’s proposed well, which is in further deepwater in the Mediterranean Sea. Shell said that it will appraise the discovery to determine if the reserves found are of commercial quantity. “We found some gas but we are still drilling,” Nureddin Wafati, an official with Shell E&P Libya, declared. The company began exploratory drilling in the concession very late in 2010, said Wafati. He did not give any details on the gas reserves found so far. If the discovery results in commercial quantities of gas, Shell has the option of shipping it to Marsa AlBrega for export as LNG, or supplying it for power generation inside Libya.