Italian engineering company, Saipem, announced on Wednesday the successful installation of a gas extraction module at the offshore El Bouri field off Libya’s coast, a move expected to reduce gas flaring and increase production to around two million cubic meters per day.
The operation marks a key milestone in El Bouri Gas Utilization Project, developed by Mellitah Oil & Gas, a joint venture between Italy’s Eni and Libya’s National Oil Corporation.
The project aims to capture associated gas that is currently flared, the controlled burning of excess gas that produces the familiar flames seen at refineries and oil fields, and transport it to the Mellitah complex for domestic use or export.
Saipem said the lifting operation was carried out using its flagship vessel, Saipem 7000, one of the world’s largest crane ships. The module was fabricated by Rosetti Marino at its shipyard in Italy.
According to the company, the installation will significantly reduce gas flaring and help avoid around 1.5 million tonnes of CO₂-equivalent emissions annually while improving the efficiency of existing infrastructure.
The module weighs more than 5,200 tonnes and was built over nearly two years. It includes advanced gas-processing systems that form part of the project’s new infrastructure.
“Installing the module marks a major milestone in the execution phase of the project and demonstrates our ability to manage complex operations through advanced engineering planning and heavy-lift solutions,” Saipem said.
