Sirte Oil Company (SOC)

=Snapshot=

The Sirte Oil Company (SOC) is a fully-owned subsidiary of the National Oil Corporation (NOC), headquartered in Brega. SOC's operations include exploration, production and manufacturing. It is considered by the US State Department to be one of the most important of the NOC's subsidiaries.

=History=

The SOC was formed as a subsidiary of the Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC) in 1982, when Esso Sirte companies (Esso's Libyan subsidiaries) relinquished 50 percent of their shares to the NOC and Exxon's share in Esso Sirte (Exxon being the parent company of both Esso and ExxonMobil) ) was purchased by the NOC and formed into the Sirte Oil Company. In 1986 the SOC took over the assets of Grace Petroleum, one of the five US companies forced by US unilateral sanctions to leave Libya. The SOC was formerly headed by UK-educated Ali Sugheir, who briefly became interim head of the NOC itself in 2009, replacing Shukri Ghanem temporarily.

=Activities= The SOC operates the Raguba field in the central part of the Sirte Basin. The field is connected by pipeline to the main line between the Nasser field, one of the largest in Libya, and Marsa el-Brega. Besides Nasser, SOC is in charge of two other gas fields – Attahadi and Assumud – plus the Marsa el-Brega liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant.

=External Links=

Official website: www.sirteoil.com.ly

=References=