Libya Report

Dr. Nuri A. Berruien, Chairman of the Board of National Oil Corporation (NOC), discusses the future for National Oil Corporation, the largest oil company in Libya. With the fall of the Qaddafi regime, "For the first time, we have been operating differently from the past. NOC has greater independence, unlike in the past under the old regime when the government would interfere with the industry and make dictates that are not conducive to a good business environment. This is all gone," explains Dr. Berruien.

Talking about the business environment, Dr. Berruien agrees that post-Qaddafi Libya is more welcoming towards foreign investment: "We have an excellent business environment that encourages investors to operate and we can establish good dialogue. We are talking to the IOCs as true partners and I think we will see more of that. I think there is great potential in the oil sector for the development of the Libyan industry."

Libya will be producing oil for another 50 years. "We will have to develop this but we do have the resources. In our existing fields, the recovery factor for our reservoirs is very low, while our fields have a lot of potential. We could enhance our recovery and add a lot of production and reserves from the existing potential, not including the production and reserves that will come from exploration," adds Dr. Berruien.