With hundreds of millions of people living without electricity in the world's poorest continent, African countries are increasingly turning to gas to take advantage of lower global LNG prices amid a supply glut.

Europe sees Israel and the region as an important supplier of gas to Europe

Ливия готова рассмотреть вариант с заморозкой уровня добычи нефти, только когда ситуация в стране стабилизируется и нефтяная промышленность выйдет на уровень квоты ОПЕК.

Lybian crude output rose to 450,000 barrels a day after work resumed at some oil fields, Ibrahim Al-Awami, head of oil measurement department at state-run National Oil Corp., said by phone on Tuesday. Armed conflicts and political disputes have hurt the country’s production, which was 260,000 barrels a day in August.

Oil traders have closely watched the situation in Libya, where production now stands at about 300,000 barrels a day—a level that Libyan officials say they could quickly ramp up again if oil ports remained open and secure for an extended period.

The World Bank finances projects for faster delivery of benefits to the people of Egypt in key sectors including social safety nets, energy, transport, water and sanitation, agriculture and irrigation, housing, health, as well as supporting employment-intensive projects and financing for micro and small enterprises. The current portfolio of the World Bank in Egypt includes 24 projects for a total commitment of about US$ 7 billion.

Eni owns the whole of Zohr and has said it is interested in bringing in partners as part of its strategy of selling some of its prize acreage to help meet a target of raising 5 billion euros from asset disposal over the next two years.

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.