Libya’s Mellitah Oil & Gas Company (MOG) has invited companies to prequalify for a major offshore package as part of its Mellitah Complex Expansion & CO2 Management Integrated Development Project, which is estimated to be worth about $8bn.

The package is estimated at around $3bn and focuses on developing offshore pipelines and subsea systems for the “E” Offshore Installation Project and CO2 project.

The deadline to submit prequalification documents is 5 November. The contract will use the engineering, procurement, installation and commissioning (EPIC) model.

MOG is a joint venture of Libya’s National Oil Corporation and Italian oil and gas company Eni.

This is not the first time MOG has invited submissions for the offshore pipelines and subsea systems package. The company originally launched a prequalification process for the EPIC contract in 2021, but the project experienced delays and the process was eventually cancelled. The prequalification process was restarted nearly three years later, but it was also ultimately abandoned.

Complex expansion

As part of the Mellitah Complex Expansion & CO2 Management Integrated Development Project, two offshore structures – Structure A and Structure E – will be developed in Libya’s offshore block NC 41.

Structure A is in the central-western part of the area, about 80 kilometres (km) from the Libyan coast, with a water depth of 95-105 metres.

Structure E is located in the central-eastern part of the area, about 130km from the Libyan coast, in a water depth of 205-235 metres.

The scope of the wider project includes:

A new wellhead platform installed in 96 metres of water as part of the development of Structure A A new production platform installed in about 220 metres of water depth as part of the development of Structure E Modification of the existing Sabratha platform Sealines and subsea systems for structures A and E Upgrading the existing onshore Mellitah complex

Project contract awards

In June 2024, MOG awarded an offshore engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract worth €1.2bn ($1.28bn), which was part of the Mellitah Complex Expansion & CO2 Management Integrated Development Project.

The contract was awarded to a consortium of three Italian companies: Rosetti Marino, Kerry Project Logistics and Gruppo Antonini.

In a statement, Rosetti Marino said its share of the project contract was worth €400m ($428m), comprising 33% of the total contract value.

Rosetti Marino said its scope of work includes EPC and load-out activities to deliver the topside of the approximately 6,000-tonne gas production wellhead platform, named WHP-A, to be installed off the coast of Libya.

Project setbacks

During 2023 and 2024, several setbacks affected the Mellitah Complex Expansion & CO2 Management Integrated Development Project.

In November 2023, MOG restarted the prequalification process for an upstream offshore package worth an estimated $700m.

The project scope involves modifications to the offshore Sabratha platform at the Bahr Essalam field.

Less than two months later, MOG restarted prequalification for a second package as part of the integrated development project.

The scope of the second package covers key sealine and subsea systems.

No reason was given for restarting the prequalification process for two of the project’s packages.