What lies beneath

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is fortunate to be able to tap the majority of its oil onshore and in shallow coastal waters. That’s meant a minimal need for deepwater drilling and its associated risks, exemplified by the disastrous BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that saw some five million barrels of crude spew out of the Macondo well over the course of three months. But with oil fields maturing in North Africa, oil companies are exploring for black gold at ever-deeper depths in the Mediterranean Sea. In Libya, for example, the colossal Gulf of Sirte basin extends to depths 2,000 meters below sea level — that’s some 500 meters deeper than the Macondo well. Deepwater drilling is already underway in the territorial waters of Tunisia, Libya and Egypt. Yet it was only when the tarnished British oil company BP announced in the wake of