Italy, Libya sign $8B gas deal as PM Meloni visits Tripoli

By SAMY MAGDY
Associated Press

CAIRO (AP) — Italy’s prime minister has held talks in Libya with officials from the country’s west-based government focusing on energy and migration, top issues for Italy and the European Union. During Premier Giorgia Meloni’s visit on Saturday, the two countries’ oil companies signed a gas deal worth $8 billion to develop two offshore natural gas fields — the largest single investment in Libya’s energy sector in more than two decades. Meloni, three months in office now, is seeking to secure new supplies of natural gas to replace Russian energy amid Moscow’s war on Ukraine. Libya split into rival administrations after descending into turmoil following the 2011 NATO-backed uprising turned civil war that toppled and later killed longtime autocratic ruler Moammar Gadhafi.