Brega Complex

Brega, located on the Gulf of Sidra about 200 km west of Benghazi, is home to Libya's second-largest hydrocarbon complex. It consists of the oldest oil refinery in Libya (on stream since 1970), a gas plant producing liquefied natural gas (LNG) and a petrochemical complex. Brega provides gasoline to communities in the region reaching as far as Benghazi.

During the 2011 revolution Brega repeatedly changed hands between Gaddafi and rebel forces in the 2011 war, and the complex was badly damaged. Gaddafi forces destroyed at least four oil storage tanks, while NATO bombed the complex clubhouse, a communications tower and other facilities after learning that they were being used to store weapons. Upon fleeing the complex after the fall of Tripoli in late August, Gaddafi loyalists reportedly also left behind 40,000 anti-personnel and anti-tank mines around the town of Brega and 6,000 mines on a nearby beach.

=Refinery=

The oil refinery is a topping and reforming facility with a nominal capacity of 8,400 barrels per day (bpd).

=Natural gas plant=

The LNG plant at Brega, built in 1970, is the world's second ever to come on stream. No substantial upgrades have been made to the plant since it came on stream and, according to market analyst IHS Global Insight, it was as of October 2010 in need of modernisation and repair. With its use of outdated facilities, Brega's gas is incompatible with global standards and can be exported to only one regasification train in Spain. Brega once produced up to 3.6 billion cubic metres (bcm) per year, but as of October 2008 had not been capable of producing more than 800 million cubic metres per year for decades. In 2005, Shell signed a deal with Sirte Oil Company, a subsidiary of National Oil Corporation (NOC), to rejuvenate and expand the LNG plant to restore it to its original nameplate production for a total of $643 million, but the project has experienced numerous delays as a result of organisational problems within NOC and its subsidiaries.

=Terminal=

Brega is also the starting point of the 670-kilometre Marsa Al Brega-Khoms Intisar gas pipeline, which provides gas for two electricity generating plants situated in Az Zuwaytina and Ajdabya.

=Ownership=

The complex is owned and operated by Sirte Oil Company (SOC). It was built in the 1960s and was run in partnership with Esso Oil in the 1960s and 70s, but Sirte Oil Company has had control of the Brega facilities since the early 1980s.

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