The Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity, Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, formed a committee to negotiate with the two foreign partners (Total and ConocoPhillips) to amend the concession agreement and participation in the fields of the Waha Oil Company, in a step contrary to objections by the Attorney General, the Audit Bureau, parliamentarians and specialists.
Dbeibah's decision comes two weeks after the suspension of Oil Minister Mohamed Oun, and a quick response to a memorandum from the head of the National Oil Corporation, Farhat Bengdara, in which he proposed negotiations with the French company Total Energies and the American company ConocoPhillips, as one of two options after they demanded an increase in their profit margin from 6.5% to 13% of the production share, which is equivalent to 40.83%, with the validity of contracts concluded with the corporation extended to the year 2046.
The PM's decision stipulated the formation of a committee headed by Khalifa Abdelsidiq, Undersecretary-General of the Ministry of Oil and Gas, who was assigned the duties of Minister of Oil, and the membership of five others. The decision also said that the committee would negotiate with the two foreign partners to develop oil discoveries in the fields managed by Waha Oil Company in the three concession contracts in the North Jalu region, to improve the conditions set by the partners for participation, agree on a timetable to begin development, and present the results of the negotiation to the Supreme Council for Energy and Water Affairs.
The reserve available for production from the Waha Oil Company fields is estimated at about 6 billion barrels, and within the limits of current production levels (350.000 barrels per day), this reserve provides continued production for 60 years. While the discovered and undeveloped reserves in the oasis fields do not exceed 1.5 billion barrels.
At the end of last March, Bengdara sent a letter to Dbeibah, in which he demanded the provision of investments ranging from 15 to 20 billion dollars to implement the plan to increase the production of the Waha Oil Company fields to 850.000 barrels per day, preferring the offer made by the two companies in this regard.
