| Waha Oil Company | |
| Location: | Tripoli, Libya |
| Key People: | Dr. Fathi M. Ben-Zahia (Chairman) A.M. Almajbry R. Mong |
| Industry: | Petroleum |
| Products: | Exploration Oil and gas |
| Num Employees: | 5500 |
| Homepage: | Official website |
Waha Oil Company (WOC; Arabic: Arabic: شركة الواحة للنفط,) is an oil company based in Tripoli, Libya, engaged in the fields of crude oil and natural gas exploration and production.
WOC is involved in upstream activities, including oil exploration, drilling, production and shipping. They operate four oil fields, the largest being the Waha oil field.[1] Additionally, WOC manages oil for several companies through its production lines running from the Sirte Basin to Es-Sider terminal. Some of these companies include Wintershall, Total S.A. and Zuietina. WOC is owned by the National Oil Corporation (NOC) in a joint venture with ConocoPhillips, Marathon and Hess Corp.
WOC was established in 1956 and its first oil discovery was made in 1959, in Dahra field. In 1962, WOC began pumping oil to a terminal operated by Conoco, Amerada Hess and Marathon. In 1968, Shell joined the consortium, purchasing shares from Amerada Hess. In 1973, after the Al-Fatah Revolution, company shares were split between these companies (49%) and NOC (51%). In 1974, Shell declined to sign this agreement and NOC bought their shares, making the split 59-41%. This resulted in the formation of Oasis Oil Company. In 1986, former U.S. President Ronald Reagan issued an Executive Order to all U.S. oil companies to withdraw from Libya. This led to an agreement between NOC and the U.S. oil companies to freeze previous agreements for three years, pending review. However, once economic sanctions were established they never returned. After this, NOC became the sole owner of WOC. In 2002, the previous parties involved re-established communications with NOC and WOC.[2]
On 20 September 2004, President George W. Bush signed Executive Order 12543, lifting most remaining U.S. sanctions against Libya and paving the way for U.S. oil companies to try to secure contracts or revive previous contracts for tapping Libya’s oil reserves. The Order also revoked any restrictions on importation of oil products refined in Libya, and unblocked certain assets.[3]
In October 2013, Libya’s National Oil Corporation announced it was considering acquiring Marathon Oil’s stake in Waha.