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On the contrary, at least part of the economic substance of the agreement begins to be clarified . The main resource that keeps the Tripoli government, the only internationally recognized oil. Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj struggles to contain the views of the depots of General Khalifa Haftar, the boss of Benghazi and Cyrenaica, followed with some sympathy by French President Emmanuel Macron. From the point of view of Tripoli, it is fundamental that there is no change in the management of crude oil. But Total, backed by Macron, wants to expand in a country full of reserves and where it plays a marginal role: it produces only 31,000 barrels of oil per day against the 384 thousand Eni, the main foreign company. Among Total's goals is the Waha consortium, southeast of Sirte: an obvious reserve of about 600,000 barrels a day. The shareholder is the National Oil Corp., the Libyan national company, with a stake of 59.18%. The rest of the capital is divided between three American companies: Marathon Oil (16.33%); Conoco Phillips (16.33%) and Hess (8.16%)
Hall of Fame
Count meets Trump at the White House: smiles and handshakes
US multinationals have returned from Libya for fourteen years, after that in 2004, George W. Bush revoked the sanctions and investment bans imposed by Ronald Reagan in 1986. Last March, Marathon Oil sold its package of securities in the Waha, just in Total: a case from 450 million dollars. In Tripoli, they had no doubt: it was the signal that not only Marathon, but also other American companies would leave, giving way to the French, privileged interlocutors of General Haftar. Politics and the economy are intimately linked: in April, Sarraj blocks the operation. But the ambitions of the French remain alive. Macron convenes the Libyan factions in Paris to agree on a path leading to the December 10 elections. Total presses to take over from Marathon.
And we are today. In Rome, the Conté government is worried about Macron's activism and Total's initiative, Eni's rivals. The double-reading file (political and economic) is on the comparison table with Trump. The president would have guaranteed his intervention to push Marathon and the others to stay in Libya. See Meanwhile, the leader of the White House has been relaunched with a big plan to sell shale gas, building in Europe between 9 and 11 ports, with regasifiers. For now, no other details are filtered except that Trump is asking European countries to cover their investments. But it will not be easy to involve EU partners: local communities are rejecting regasification plants almost everywhere. In addition, the consistent expenditure commitment: at least 60-70 billion dollars to install. Not to mention that American shale gas costs about 20% more than the average price on the international market.
July 31, 2018 (modified July 31, 2018 | 23:58)
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