Sirte Oil Company (SOC) ( ar, شركة سرت للنفط) is an oil and gas company in
Libya
Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...
operating under the state-owned
National Oil Corporation
The National Oil Corporation (NOC; ar, المؤسسة الوطنية للنفط) is the national oil company of Libya. It dominates Libya's oil industry, along with a number of smaller subsidiaries, which combined account for around 70% the cou ...
(NOC).
The company is located in
Brega
Brega , also known as ''Mersa Brega'' or ''Marsa al-Brega'' ( ar, مرسى البريقة , i.e. "Brega Seaport"), is a complex of several smaller towns, industry installations and education establishments situated in Libya on the Gulf of Sidra, ...
SOC’s operations include oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) and manufacturing.
Background
The company was initially known as
Esso
Esso () is a trading name for ExxonMobil. Originally, the name was primarily used by its predecessor Standard Oil of New Jersey after the breakup of the original Standard Oil company in 1911. The company adopted the name "Esso" (the phonetic p ...
Standard Libya Inc.,
the first company to discover commercial quantities of
crude oil
Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude ...
in the
Zelten oil field
The Zelten oil field (now known as the Nasser field) is located at the foot of the Zelten Mountains, about south of Brega in Concession 6. Zelten holds the title as the largest oil field in the Gulf of Sidra. The 229 wells in Zelten use a ga ...
. In 1981,
Exxon
ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, ...
(parent company of Esso Standard) withdrew their Libyan operations, after which Sirte Oil Company was formed as a NOC subsidiary. It was established to operate the former Esso Sirte installation like the Marsa el-Brega refinery.
In 1986, SOC took over the assets of Grace Petroleum, one of the five US companies forced by the U.S. government to leave Libya. In 1991, SOC merged with the
National Petrochemical Company
The National Petrochemical Company (NPC) ( fa, شرکت ملی صنایع پتروشیمی, ''Shirkat-e Mili-ye Sânai'-ye Petrushimiy''), a subsidiary to the Iranian Petroleum Ministry, is owned by the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. ...
,
creating the Sirte Oil Company for Production, Manufacturing of Oil and Gas. Activities included oil refining,
liquefaction
In materials science, liquefaction is a process that generates a liquid from a solid or a gas or that generates a non-liquid phase which behaves in accordance with fluid dynamics.
It occurs both naturally and artificially. As an example of the ...
of natural gas and
petrochemicals
Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable sou ...
(
methanol
Methanol (also called methyl alcohol and wood spirit, amongst other names) is an organic chemical and the simplest aliphatic alcohol, with the formula C H3 O H (a methyl group linked to a hydroxyl group, often abbreviated as MeOH). It is a ...
,
ammonia
Ammonia is an inorganic compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . A stable binary hydride, and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinct pungent smell. Biologically, it is a common nitrogenous was ...
and
urea
Urea, also known as carbamide, is an organic compound with chemical formula . This amide has two amino groups (–) joined by a carbonyl functional group (–C(=O)–). It is thus the simplest amide of carbamic acid.
Urea serves an important r ...
).
In 2000, SOC reportedly made a 13-billion-cubic-meter-per-year natural gas discovery in the Sirte Basin (Africa Energy Intelligence, 2000a, b).
In 2005 SOC signed a $643 million contract with
Shell
Shell may refer to:
Architecture and design
* Shell (structure), a thin structure
** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses
** Thin-shell structure
Science Biology
* Seashell, a hard ou ...
to restore the Marsa el Brega LNG. The complex was damaged after political unrest after the
Libyan civil war
Demographics of Libya is the demography of Libya, specifically covering population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, and religious affiliations, as well as other aspects of the Libyan population. The ...
in 2011 and is out of operation today.
SOC operates the
Raguba field
The Raguba field is an oil field located in the central part of Libya's Sirte Basin in Concession 20. The Sirte Oil Company (SOC) operates the Raguba field. The field is connected by pipeline to the main line between the Nasser field, one of th ...
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 Brega. As of 2005, besides Nasser, SOC was in charge of two other gas fields - Attahadi and Assumud - plus the Marsa el-Brega
liquefied natural gas
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volu ...
(LNG) plant.
The LNG plant at Brega processed about 900 million cubic meters per year, or about 700,000 metric tons per year, of natural gas, as of 2005.
[
In 2018 SOC announced the exploration and production of oil and gas in the Sahl field, after they had to stop for four years because of local security problems.
In 2019 SOC announced would conduct ]corrosion
Corrosion is a natural process that converts a refined metal into a more chemically stable oxide. It is the gradual deterioration of materials (usually a metal) by chemical or electrochemical reaction with their environment. Corrosion engine ...
control chemical field trials in 2020 for its gas production facilities.
Production Overview
*Crude Oil Storage: The Tank Farm includes sixteen tanks. The design capacity of each individual tank is .
*Refinery: Capacity for processing . The products are primarily used to satisfy domestic demand. The production slate includes: (1) gasoline; (2) kerosene
Kerosene, paraffin, or lamp oil is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Its name derives from el, κηρός (''keros'') meaning "wax", and was regi ...
jet fuel
Jet fuel or aviation turbine fuel (ATF, also abbreviated avtur) is a type of aviation fuel designed for use in aircraft powered by gas-turbine engines. It is colorless to straw-colored in appearance. The most commonly used fuels for commercial a ...
(Jet A
Jet fuel or aviation turbine fuel (ATF, also abbreviated avtur) is a type of aviation fuel designed for use in aircraft powered by gas-turbine engines. It is colorless to straw-colored in appearance. The most commonly used fuels for commercial a ...
): diesel oil
Diesel fuel , also called diesel oil, is any liquid fuel specifically designed for use in a diesel engine, a type of internal combustion engine in which fuel ignition takes place without a spark as a result of compression of the inlet air and t ...
(ADO): naphtha
Naphtha ( or ) is a flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixture.
Mixtures labelled ''naphtha'' have been produced from natural gas condensates, petroleum distillates, and the distillation of coal tar and peat. In different industries and regions ''n ...
: and heavy fuel oil
Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) is a category of fuel oils of a tar-like consistency. Also known as bunker fuel, or residual fuel oil, HFO is the result or remnant from the distillation and cracking process of petroleum. For this reason, HFO is contaminate ...
(HFO).
SOC Petrochemical Complex
SOC's petrochemical complex is located near Brega. It consists of six plants: The combined production capacity for the three products is 6,950 mtpd. All products are marketed by the Brega Marketing Company
The National Oil Corporation (NOC; ar, المؤسسة الوطنية للنفط) is the national oil company of Libya. It dominates Libya's oil industry, along with a number of smaller subsidiaries, which combined account for around 70% the cou ...
.
*Methanol plants (2): each having a capacity of 1,000 mtpd (1978 and 1985)
*Ammonia plants (2): one having a capacity of 1,000 mtpd and other with a capacity of 1,200 mtpd (1978 and 1983)
*Urea plants (2): one having a capacity of 1,000 mtpd and another with a capacity of 1,750 mtpd (1981 and 1984).
*Methanol Production: Uses natural gas from SOC’s gas fields for raw material.
*Ammonia Production: SOC’s ammonia-producing plant first converts natural gas (i.e. methane) into gaseous hydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard temperature and pressure, standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the chemical ...
. Starting with a natural gas feedstock, the first step in the process entails removal of sulfur
Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...
compounds from the feedstock, because sulfur deactivates the catalysts used in subsequent steps. Ammonia is produced in liquid form at a temperature of -33 °C.
*Urea Production: Urea is manufactured from ammonia, which comes from SOC’s two ammonia plants.
SOC Brega Port, Marine and Utility Facilities
Brega port exports SOC's oil, crude oil
Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude ...
gas and petrochemical products. The port comprises a single and double berthing docks with various depths, cargo docks, jetting and mooring for SOC products.
Fields
SOC has the following fields:
*Oil and Associated Gas Fields
**Nasser (Zelten)
**Raguba
**Lehib (Dor Marada)
**Jebel
**Wadi
**Ralah
**Arshad
**Ain Jerbi
**Al Wafa
*Non-Associated Gas Fields
**Hateiba
**Sahl
**Assamoud
**Meghil
**Sorrah
**Attahaddy
Notes
External links
{{Portal, Libya, Energy
Official website
Oil and gas companies of Libya
Libya
Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...
Non-renewable resource companies established in 1981
Tripolitania