As has become the trend over the past year, the only company with any good news to report in regard to its Libya operations in the latest round of quarterly results was Italy’s Eni. Despite recent troubles, “the situation [compared] to one year ago is improving, is much better,” said Claudio Descalzi, Eni’s CEO, in the company’s earnings call on its fourth quarter and full-year 2015 results at the end of February.

In Q4 2015, Eni’s hydrocarbons production was up 14.3% year on year to 1.9mn barrels of oil equivalent a day due to a range of factors including the ramp-up of production in the UK and the Americas and “higher production in Libya and Iraq, as well as the recovery of trade receivables for past investments in Iran,” according to the company’s results statement (MEES, 4 March). (CONTINUED - 2041 WORDS)