April 2020

The Oil & Gas Council recently caught up with Salah El Ekhfifi, Exploration Geologist at NOC Libya, to understand his current priorities and discuss opportunities in Libya and the wider Mediterranean.

Q: Can you tell us about your role?

A: I have been an exploration Geologist with NOC Libya for four years. I have published many papers and delivered presentations on diversified subjects locally and globally including at the Tunisia Oil Gas Summit and Africa Oil Week. I am also a member of the International Association of Sedimentologists, the British Sedimentology Research Group, the IAPG, the Earth Sciences Society of Libya (ESSL), and a member of the committee responsible to activate its branch in Benghazi.

Q: What are your current priorities?

A: My role currently involves the review of major reports to better understand and pursue activities in the Libyan Basins as well as providing insight into current geological studies. I recently joined Mr. Elhamali (NOC) in preparing a paper that will be presented at the upcoming 36th International Geological Congress (IGC 36) in November 2020, which focuses on understanding the geo-potentiality of the offshore areas in Gulf of Sirte, Libya.

Q: What developments are you witnessing in North Africa and the Mediterranean region?

A:In view of the recent discoveries in the eastern part of the Mediterranean, and according to the “Offshore Deepwater Exploration and Drilling in Greece” report, “the offshore areas covering the west of Crete and blocks south-west of the island, as well as the open acreage south of Crete, are frontier regions with very little exploration history. Zohr analogues seem to be the main target for the companies active here. Nowadays, the exploration activities are focused on the Ionian Sea and the offshore frontier areas south of Crete, as well as a number of onshore areas in western Greece.”1
1. https://www.geoexpro.com/articles/2019/03/offshore-deepwater-exploration-and-drilling-in-greece

Q: What does this mean for Libya?

A: Libya has also contracted ION to shoot a geoghysical survey over the Libyan offshore acreage. Similarly, other published papers talk about anomalies in the Medsea that are located between Libya and Crete (~7km to the South-Western offshore boundary with Libya), which, if drilled, may rise to be giant prospects/fields similar to Zohr in the future.

In September 2020, Salah El Ekhfifi will share the stage with an array of experts at the Africa Assembly 2020 in Paris.