TotalFinaElf (24% of the foreign partners consortium) and its partners (Repsol YPF, operator, OeMV and Saga Petroleum Mabruk) announce a new oil discovery on Block NC 186 in the Murzuq Basin (Libya), located approximately 800 kilometers south of Tripoli.

On this block, well A2 encountered an important oil column in the Ordovician sandstone formation and flowed at rates of up to 2,670 barrels per day of light oil (41° API). A2 is situated about 4.4 kilometers west of the A1 discovery, made in November 2000, and confirms commercial oil reserves. These two wells are located around 20 kilometres from the El-Sharara field, on Block NC 115, in which TotalFinaElf holds 30% of the foreign partners consortium share. Onstream since 1996, the El-Sharara facilities have the capacity to process and export additional oil production.

Moreover, TotalFinaElf announces that an onshore exploration and production sharing agreement (EPSA) concluded with the Libyan National Oil Corporation and TotalFinaElf, the only foreign partner, covering two blocks designated as NC 191 and NC 192 (formerly named M2 and S29) in Libya has been ratified.

The 16,600 km² NC 191 Block lies in the western area of the Murzuq Basin, around 800 kilometers south of Tripoli. It is located near Block NC 115 where the El-Sharara fields, brought onstream in 1996, produce around 160,000 barrels per day of oil.

The 1,200 km² NC 192 Block is situated in the Sirte Basin, where TotalFinaElf operates the 20,000 barrels per day Mabruk oil field. TotalFinaElf holds 75% of the foreign partners consortium share in this Development & Production Sharing Agreement.

This new exploration success and the ratification of this agreement confirm TotalFinaElf's commitment to the Libyan upstream oil sector and strengthens the Group position in North Africa, a major oil and gas region. TotalFinaElf is the leading international oil and gas producer in Africa, with production totaling 632,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2000.