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The tender process for Libya’s 6J North Gialo oil field development project is expected to progress following Petrofac’s announcement that it has gone into administration, according to industry sources.

UK-based Petrofac is one of just two companies that submitted bids for the project. The other is Egypt-based Petrojet.

In September, MEED revealed that the bids had been submitted for the project and were under evaluation.

The client on the project is Libya’s Waha Oil Company and Petrofac completed the front-end engineering and design (feed) for the project in 2020.

Waha is a joint venture of Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC), France’s TotalEnergies and US-based ConocoPhillips.

Commenting on the impact of Petrofac’s insolvency, one industry source said: “This has definitely increased uncertainty for the project.

“It could potentially mean that this contract is retendered, but there is a lot of confidence that this tender will still go ahead in some form.

“Waha Oil and Libya’s NOC have made it clear that this project is a priority and they want it to go ahead.

“Progress is still expected on this tender, but it is possible that there will be more delays before this contract is awarded and signed.”

The 6J North Gialo field development project is part of a series of tenders that are collectively expected to be worth $1bn.

The three projects are:

• NC98
• Gialo 3
• 6J North Gialo

All three projects will develop Libyan reservoirs that have not yet been tapped.

The 6J North Gialo project was the first to be tendered and it is expected to be followed by NC98, with the Gialo 3 project likely to be tendered last.

Together, the projects are expected to double Waha’s production from about 300,000 barrels a day (b/d) of oil to 600,000 b/d. The Waha concession covers 13 million acres.