$25b needed to boost crude output

Tripoli: Libya's oil industry will need at least $25 billion (Dh91.8 billion) in investment to increase its oil production to two million barrels a day, said the chairman of drilling-rig operator Challenger Ltd.

"Fields need to be developed, others redeveloped," Hassan Tatanaki said in a telephone interview on Friday. "The Libyan oil industry needs a lot of revamping. We have to reinvest to be able to get the proper cost effective amount into the industry in terms of the country's production level."

The armed conflict in Libya, holder of Africa's largest proven reserves, has reduced the nation's output to 100,000 barrels a day in July from the 1.6 million barrels pumped before the uprising started in February. A full recovery of production may take as long as three years, according to analysts' estimates.

Tatanaki, 53, said he intends to play a role in rebuilding Libya's oil industry, of which Challenger's 35 rigs across the country "are the core".

His Libya Al Hurra charity, set up shortly after the unrest began, has been providing humanitarian aid and relief to refugees and those displaced by the conflict in Libya operating out of Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and the US. Read More >>>>