Italian major ENI never stopped being a constant fixture of the Libyan oil patch, even in the heyday of the 2011 to 2012 revolt and the immediate aftermath, when several other operators were on the retreat.
But the company has been absent from the country’s offshore in the last five years, while it continued operations onshore.
Now its resumption of offshore operations is the subject of headlines in energy news media worldwide.
ENI’s re-entry of the exploratory well C1-16/4 (also known as BESS-3) in contractual Area D (previously Block NC-41), in Libya’s northwest, is meant to offset dwindling gas output from key assets. It is part of the country’s overall bounce in drilling and field redevelopment activities.
ENI is focused on Libya’s gas exports to Italy, which have been dropping, reaching to 21-year lows in 2024 and on course to fall significantly further in 2025 according to the influential Middle Eastern Economic Survey MEES. But Italy itself is not necessarily demanding more gas. The September 2025 Monthly Gas Market Report published by the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, says that Italy’s natural gas consumption fell sharply in August 2025, down 13% y-o-y to 113Billion cubic feet, largely due to reduced demand from the power sector.
C1-16/4 lies approximately 95kilometres off the Libyan coast and around 15kilometres from the Bahr Essalam gas field.
ENI operates the Libyan offshore asset via Mellitah Oil and Gas Company, its joint venture with NOC, the state hydrocarbon company.
