Libya is seeking to boost crude production after rival leaders agreed last month to unify the state National Oil Corp. under a single management. The bulk of the country’s oil infrastructure is either damaged or straddles disputed territory as armed factions fought for control of producing fields.

The World Bank is downgrading its 2016 global growth forecast to 2.4 percent from the 2.9 percent pace projected in January. The move is due to sluggish growth in advanced economies, stubbornly low commodity prices, weak global trade, and diminishing capital flows.

Eni engineering and construction subsidiary Saipem on Thursday announced the award of offshore engineering and construction contracts with a combined value of more than USD 1.5 billion, including work related to the Zohr gasfield development project in Egyptian waters.

Oil output will reach 69 million tonnes of oil equivalent in 2016, against 67 million tonnes last year, while gas production will rise to 132.2 billion cubic meters (bcm) from 128.3 bcm in 2015 and 130.9 bcm in 2014, a Sonatrach report showed.

According to a development plan approved this month by the energy ministry, Leviathan's three anchor customers for its phase 1 development are expected to be the domestic Israeli market, the Jordanian power company Nepco and the Egyptian consortium Dolphinus Holdings, which was supposed to purchase gas from Tamar last year in a deal that has not materialized.

The new discovery is 12 km off shore, and 10 km north of last year’s find, Nooros. The well was drilled in water depth of 25 m and reached a total depth of 3,750 m and found about 62 m of net gas pay in high quality Messinian sandstones and with "excellent reservoir properties," according to Eni.

Leviathan, one of the largest offshore discoveries of the past decade, was found in the eastern Mediterranean in 2010 and has been mostly earmarked for exports.

Libya's production was down to 212,000 barrels on Monday, after the largest National Oil Corp (NOC) subsidiary, AGOCO, was forced to slash output by one-third from southeastern fields, an NOC spokesman in Tripoli said.

"В состав алжирской делегации Форума вошли более 200 бизнесменов, заинтересованных в развитии деловых связей в топливно-энергетическом комплексе, сельском хозяйстве, строительстве и других секторах экономики"

The two countries also signed agreements to develop a 2250 Megawatt electricity plant with a cost of $2.2 billion, set up agriculture complexes in Sinai and develop a canal to transfer water, a statement from the Presidency said.

По результатам переговоров обе страны подтвердили намерение укреплять двустороннее сотрудничество в сфере энергетики, в том числе в области поставок сжиженного природного газа (СПГ), создания газовой инфраструктуры, разведки углеводородов, строительства и эксплуатации средств электрогенерации, а также возобновляемых энергоресурсов.

This is American energy security, American jobs, U.S. government revenue and American GDP tied up by political red tape. This is a once in a generation opportunity, stuck, off limits to future generations as it waits for forward-looking energy policy.

U.S. Rig Count is down 2 rigs from last week to 698, with oil rigs down 2 to 536, and gas rigs are unchanged from last week, at 162.