The National Oil Corporation (NOC) announced that it will resume the second phase of the offshore Bahr Essalam oilfield's project.

This announcement came as NOC's Chairman Mustafa Sanallah, met with the CEO of Italian oil major Eni, Claudio Descalzi, at NOC headquarters on Saturday.

The officials, according to the NOC's website, discussed ongoing operations in Libya, including plans for the seven remaining wells at the offshore Bahr Essalam Phase 2 project - expected to complete by the end of 2018.

They also discussed opportunities to increase production, investment and exploration, and the importance of sustainability in all activities.

"The compression capacity upgrade project at the Wafa plant was also reviewed, with the first gas expected to come on stream in the next few days; a successful joint project in challenging conditions in Libya’s remote interior." NOC said in its statement.

The statement says that Eni’s CEO has emphasized the strong relations between the two companies, highlighting the commencement of logistics operations necessary to re-establish exploration activities, as identified in the recently announced joint NOC, Eni and BP Exploration and Production Sharing Agreement (EPSA).

"Discussions also focused on the development of maritime sites adjacent to existing EPSA areas and ways to enhance cooperation to increase production capacity at existing fields. Plans and operational procedures in preparation for the tender of the development of offshore sites ‘A’ and ‘E’ were also deliberated." The statement reads.

“Eni is one of our significant partners, which has always supported NOC. This visit and our recent joint activities are a clear sign of the company’s ambitions for its Libyan operations. This will encourage further investment in the Libyan oil sector and provide additional opportunities to upskill and capacity build Libya’s next generation of oil sector workers." Sanallah remarked, according to the NOC's statement.

Sanallah added that the NOC's disclosure and adherence to the principle of transparency is an important facet of our collaborative approach to all projects, adding that the state oil firm's collaboration with Eni and revived EPSA agreement provides a promising opportunity to revive the Libyan economy and provide a decent standard of living for the Libyan people.

"Together with our partners, NOC will work to all ends to increase production to its highest levels,” Sanallah concluded.