In an interview with Energy Capital & Power at the Libya Energy and Economic Summit (LEES) in Tripoli earlier this year, Paul Bansil, Director of KBR Consulting, outlined how robust project design and investment-ready solutions will be critical as the country moves to strengthen its oil and gas sector while preparing for a broader energy transition.

According to Bansil, engineering and concept development play a vital role in ensuring projects remain viable despite market fluctuations. As part of its engineering practice, KBR applies value engineering processes designed to ensure projects can adapt to both market upsides and downturns, enabling developments to move forward into front-end engineering design (FEED) and detailed design phases.

Libya’s energy authorities have also identified several priority areas to support sector growth. Bansil explained that the NOC has raised three pillars for the growth of the oil and gas market here in Libya.

One of the central objectives is to increase production capacity while maximizing the use of existing infrastructure.  The second part is modernization. “The existing infrastructure here is old and aged, not particularly efficient and so there’s improvements in oil and gas over the last 20 years, there's been a lot of progression, cleaner ways of producing oil and gas and less emissions,” said Bansil.

The third pillar focuses on energy diversification, which Bansil says is crucial for Libya’s long-term strategy. “More importantly, it's the world after hydrocarbons. I think that Libya as a country cannot have sole reliance on a single natural resource that's fluctuating in price,” he explained.

He noted that Libya is well positioned to leverage its natural resources to expand into emerging energy sectors while attracting increasing investor interest, explaining that the country needs to diversify its energy portfolio by developing ammonia, hydrogen, solar and wind projects, making use of its resources to build a more flexible energy mix, adding that strong investor interest will be key to Libya’s success.

Lastly Bansil highlighted the importance of LEES in bringing together industry stakeholders and investors. “Without forums like this, it's going to be very difficult for the NOCs to put their point across and promote investment into Libya. For Libya to thrive and to move on for decades to come, it's summits like this that are going to be key to the success of Libya moving forward.”

Full video interview:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyqLZKxIB6A