Bouri Gas Field Development in Libya Advances with New Italian Contracts
The offshore platform at Libya’s Bouri field is being overhauled to capture natural gas that was once flared as waste. Under the Bouri Gas Utilization Project, the existing rig will be fitted with a new 5,000‑ton gas-recovery module and tied by subsea pipelines to the onshore Mellitah processing facility. The project – operated by Mellitah Oil & Gas (a joint venture of Libya’s National Oil Corporation and Italy’s Eni) – is designed to boost gas production and slash emissions. Work is expected to begin in December, with equipment installation and tie‑in continuing into 2026.
NextGeosolutions and the Bouri Gas Field Project
Italy’s Next Geosolutions (NextGeo) announced earlier this month that it had secured an €8.5 million contract from Saipem for work on the Bouri gas field development. NextGeo will supply survey and installation-support services to Saipem’s offshore campaign, deploying two vessels (the NG Worker and NG Surveyor) for touch-down monitoring with work-class ROVs and for delivering pipeline sections during the installation phases. In practice, the company’s ROV crews will inspect the seabed and anchor the new pipe over existing wells, ensuring proper placement as Saipem installs the equipment. NextGeo stated that its role “covers survey and construction support work” for the field’s gas development.
NextGeo’s contract complements other recent awards on the project. In September 2025, NextGeo’s newly acquired subsea arm, Rana Subsea, won a €62.6 million Saipem contract for specialized subsea services and dive support. Together, these deals mean that a small Italian contractor is playing multiple roles in the Bouri venture – a sign of growing Italian industry involvement under Eni’s leadership of the project. Saipem itself had earlier captured the lead contract for Bouri. In August 2023, Saipem agreed a roughly $1 billion deal with Mellitah Oil & Gas to overhaul the field’s platforms and fit the new gas recovery module, plus lay about 28 kilometers of pipeline to tie the wells to the processing hub.
Saipem’s work – and its subcontractors like NextGeo – is scheduled to commence in December and run well into 2026. By the end of the campaign, Libya aims to bring the long-idle Bouri field into steady gas production. The captured gas will serve domestic power plants and potentially flow to export markets via the Mediterranean. Executives in NextGeo’s management have noted that working on this project alongside Saipem (an Eni-controlled company) is a major step for their firm, demonstrating their ability to handle complex offshore projects.
“The award of these new contracts with Saipem marks a significant step forward in the growth path of our Group. The joint presence of NextGeo and Rana Subsea in the same project clearly demonstrates the full complementarity of our expertise and our ability to operate in synergy across different, yet closely integrated activities, positioning ourselves as a single, trusted partner for the development of complex projects,” said Giovanni Ranieri, CEO of Next Geosolutions.
Libya’s Energy Sector and Foreign Investment
The Bouri contract comes amid a broader renewal of Libya’s energy sector. Libya remains one of Africa’s largest oil producers, but political turmoil since the 2011 uprising has repeatedly disrupted output. Rival factions have on occasion shut oilfields and pipelines, so foreign firms have been understandably cautious. Nevertheless, the state National Oil Corporation (NOC) has spent the past year aggressively courting international partners. In April 2025, Libya announced its first oil and gas licensing round in 17 years, offering 22 exploration blocks under production-sharing contracts. NOC officials said the round had already drawn “a lot of interest” from foreign companies and estimated that $3-4 billion in investment would be needed to reach higher output targets.
Several major Western oil companies have since recommitted to Libya. In mid-2025, BP and Shell signed cooperation agreements with the NOC to study new fields. BP, for example, agreed to assess onshore targets like the Messla and Sarir fields (and even unconventional plays), and plans to reopen its Tripoli office by late 2025. Shell likewise joined with the NOC to study development of the Atshan basin. Eni has already reactivated dozens of rigs offshore and onshore, and Austria’s OMV and Spain’s Repsol resumed Libyan drilling in 2024. Even ExxonMobil has reengaged: in August 2025 NOC announced a memorandum of understanding with Exxon, followed by plans to host a Libya-U.S. energy forum aimed at attracting U.S. investors.
On the gas side, NOC and Eni are moving ahead with several billion-dollar projects alongside Bouri. Libya signed an $8 billion, 25-year production-sharing deal with Eni in 2023, targeting up to 800 million cubic feet per day from fields like Bahr Essalam. Another initiative, the Structures A&E project, enlists U.S. firm Hill International to manage two offshore fields that will add roughly 750 million cfd of new gas production for export. Libyan officials tie these projects to a national strategy of diversifying output and attracting foreign capital. Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah has emphasized partnerships with international companies as critical to rebuild Libya’s economy. The new deals in Bouri, including the NextGeosolutions contract, are part of that push to revitalize Libya’s energy industry.
The contract awarded to NextGeosolutions reflects Libya’s deepening engagement with European and global partners as it seeks to tap its energy reserves. The Bouri gas project is one of several flagship developments intended to monetize Libya’s natural gas – both for domestic needs and for export to Europe via the existing Mediterranean pipeline infrastructure. All of these projects, from the multi‑billion‑dollar contracts to smaller service agreements, underscore the nation’s commitment to rebuilding its hydrocarbon sector. The country and its new oil companies now aim to show that large-scale foreign investment can be matched with returns, even as security and political uncertainty remain ongoing challenges.
