An invitation to bid has been issued for a contract to conduct environmental assessments for the project to expand the Mellitah oil and gas complex in Libya.

The bid submission deadline is 2pm today (17 September) Libyan time.

The scope of the project includes provision of:

An environmental baseline study (EBS) An environmental impact assessment (EIA) An environmental management plan (EMP)

The client is Mellitah Oil & Gas (MOG), which is a joint venture of Italy’s Eni and Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC).

MOG is based in Tripoli and operates both onshore and offshore oil and gas facilities.

The joint venture owns and operates six major oil and gas fields across the North African country.

According to the tender documents, the company that is awarded the contract will need to prepare environmental management measures in compliance with:

Libyan environmental legislation Ministry of Environment requirements NOC environmental guidelines Applicable international environmental standards and best practices

The expansion of the Mellitah oil and gas complex is part of a project estimated to be worth $8bn.

The wider project is known as the Mellitah Complex Expansion & CO2 Management Integrated Development Project.

It has six main packages:

Onshore package Offshore Structure A Offshore Structure E Subsea pipeline package Site preparation work Carbon capture and storage facility

Security issues and political instability have been a major problem for Libya’s oil and gas sector since the country’s civil war started in 2011.

Earlier this month, the Mellitah oil and gas complex was forced to shut down temporarily due to a protest over deteriorating public services.

The existing onshore complex includes housing, processing units, storage facilities and export facilities.

It also serves as the launch point for the Greenstream pipeline, which delivers Libyan gas directly to Italy.

The planned expansion of the complex will involve:

Construction of a new fourth gas processing train Construction of a third condensate train Construction of a third natural gas liquids fractionation train Construction of a fourth sulphur recovery unit train Installation of a hydrogen sulphide enrichment unit Installation of a sulphur recovery unit Construction of other associated facilities

The Mellitah complex is located about 100 kilometres west of Tripoli and is a key energy facility in the west of the country.