CAIRO - Italy's prime minister held talks in Libya Saturday with officials from the country's west-based government focusing on energy and migration, top issues for Italy and the European Union. During the visit, the two countries' oil companies signed a gas deal worth $8 billion - the largest single investment in Libya's energy sector in more than two decades.

Libya is the second North African country that Premier Giorgia Meloni, three months in office, visited this week. She is seeking to secure new supplies of natural gas to replace Russian energy amid Moscow's war on Ukraine. She previously visited Algeria, Italy's main supplier of natural gas, where she signed several memorandums.

Meloni landed at the Mitiga airport, the only functioning airport in Libya's capital, Tripoli, amid tight security, accompanied by Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, her office said. She met with Abdel Hamid Dbeibah, who heads one of Libya's rival administrations, and held talks with Mohamed Younis Menfi, who chairs Libya's ceremonial presidential council.

At a roundtable with Dbeibah, Meloni repeated her remarks from Algeria, saying that while Italy wants to increase its profile in the region, it doesn't seek a 'predatory' role but wants to help African nations 'grow and become richer.'

During the visit, Claudio Descalzi, the CEO of Italy's state-run energy company, ENI, signed an $8 billion deal with Libya's National Oil Corporation to develop two Libyan offshore gas fields. NOC's chairman Farhat Bengdara also signed.

The agreement involves developing two offshore fields in Block NC-41, north of Libya, and ENI said they would start pumping gas in 2026, and estimated reaching 750 million cubic feet per day, the Italian firm said in a statement.

Meloni, who attended the signing ceremony, called the deal 'significant and historic' and said it will help Europe securing energy sources.

'Libya is clearly for us a strategic economic partner,' Meloni said.

Agreement could compound tension

Saturday's deal is likely to deepen the rift between the rival Libyan administrations in the east and west, like previous oil and military deals between Tripoli and Ankara. It has already exposed fractions within the Dbeibah's government.

Oil Minister Mohamed Aoun, who did not attend the signing, criticized the deal on a local TV, saying it was 'illegal' and claiming that NOC did not consult with his ministry.

Bengdara did not address Aoun's criticism during his conference but said those who reject the deal could challenge it in court.

ENI has continued to operate in Libya despite ongoing security issues, producing gas mostly for the domestic market. Last year, Libya delivered just 2.63 billion cubic meters to Italy through the Greenstream pipeline - well below the annual levels of 8 billion cubic meters before Libya's decline in 2011.

Instability increased domestic demand and underinvestment has hampered Libya's gas deliveries abroad, according to Matteo Villa of the Milan-based ISPI think tank. New deals 'are important in terms of image,' Villa said.

Also, because of Moscow's war on Ukraine, Italy has moved to reduce dependence on Russian natural gas. Last year, Italy reduced imports by two-thirds, to 11 billion cubic meters.

Meloni is the top European official to visit oil-rich Libya since the country failed to hold presidential and parliamentary elections in December 2021. That prompted Libya's east-based parliament to appoint a rival government after Dbeibah refused to step down.

Libya has for most of the past decade been ruled by rival governments - one based in the country's east, and the other in Tripoli, in the west. The country descended into chaos following the 2011 NATO-backed uprising turned civil war that toppled and later killed longtime autocratic ruler Moammar Gadhafi.

Piantedosi's presence during the visit signaled that migration was a top concern in Meloni's trip. The interior minister has been spearheading the government's crackdown on charity rescue boats operating off Libya, initially denying access to ports and more recently, assigning ports in northern Italy, requiring days of navigation.

Libya Intercepts Boat with 700 Europe-Bound Migrants 

Patrol boats for migrants

At a joint news conference with Meloni later Saturday, Dbeibah said that Italy would provide five 'fully equipped' boats to Libya's coast guard to help stem the flow of migrants to the European shores.

Alarm Phone, an activist network that helps bring rescuers to distressed migrants at sea, criticized Italy's move to provide the patrol boats.

'While this is nothing new, it is worrying,' the group said in an email to The Associated Press. 'This will inevitably lead to more people being abducted at sea and forced to return to places they had sought to escape from.'

Jalel Harchaoui, a Libya expert and an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, said that Meloni needs to show 'some kind of a step-up, compared to her predecessor in terms of migration and energy policy in Libya.'

But 'it will be difficult to improve upon Rome's existing western Libya tactics, which have been chugging along,' he said.

The North African nation has also become a hub for African and Middle Eastern migrants seeking to travel to Europe. Italy receives tens of thousands every year.