Italian project in Libya includes desalination plant

Italian energy company Eni announced on 19 December 2010 that it had signed a memorandum of understanding for development of a social project in El Agheil, Libya, including construction of a desalination plant. 

Eni Chief Executive Officer Paolo Scaroni signed the MOU in the presence of Libyan Prime Minister al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmudi during a weekend ceremony in Tripoli, the energy company said in a statement.

The project includes a significant investment by Eni for the construction of 1,000 residential units with associated infrastructure service and a naval port, as well as the construction of industrial works, including a water desalination plant. Eni will be part of the steering committee and control with the Libyan government, which in turn will drive the implementation of the works. 

The memorandum outlines the undisclosed terms for construction of a shipping port and related infrastructure, a water desalination plant and 1,000 houses in an area near the Gulf of Sidra.

The Italian company said it signed a memorandum in 2006 with the Gaddafi Development Foundation and Libya's state-owned National Oil Corp. to help build an "innovative program of social projects" in the country.

Eni is one of the most-active foreign companies operating in Libya. British energy company BP was to start drilling for oil in the Gulf of Sidra in November, but announced plans to delay the project because it decided not to use the previously scheduled drilling platform for unexplained "operational reasons."