Libya’s Tripoli-based government’s prime minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah and Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni signed an $8 billion gas agreement during the latter’s visit on Saturday.
Meloni held talks with Dbeibah in the capital Tripoli before they attended the signing of the deal.
The head of Italy’s energy company Eni, Claudio Descalzi, and the head of Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC), Farhat Bengdara, signed the agreement to develop two Libyan offshore gas fields.
Eni said that it aims to increase gas production to supply the Libyan market and for European exports.
Last weekend, Italy expanded its partnership with Algeria in the search for alternatives to Russian oil and gas, with Meloni flying to Algiers.
Meloni arrived in Tripoli accompanied by the interior and foreign ministers. Both sides discussed trade, energy, and migration across the Mediterranean.
Meloni, the leader of the radical right-wing Brothers of Italy party, has been calling for Rome and the European Union to work more closely with Libya to stop migrants and refugees crossing the Mediterranean Sea.
Libya has been in turmoil since long-time ruler Moammar Gadhafi was toppled in 2011. Human traffickers are taking advantage of the chaos and political instability in the country.
Since March last year, an administration in Libya’s east backed by putschist Gen. Khalifa Haftar – who has been close to Russia and Egypt – has challenged the government of Prime Minister Dbeibah, arguing it has outlived its mandate.
