Technip, which was beginning to work in Libya before the civil war, said it was unclear when foreign companies would be able to operate in the North African country again.

“It is going take time before things restart,” Thierry Pilenko said on the sidelines of an oil and gas conference.

“It is unclear how long it will take as we don’t know how the country is going to be run.”

“Libya won’t play an important role as long as the processes needed to do business are not clarified,” he said, adding that it was not known in what state oil installations were.

“Before the war Libya was not known as a country where decisions were taken quickly — it was one of the slowest ones. So it will be interesting to see whether this will carry on or whether this will change.”

He added: “You shouldn’t count too much on Libya when it comes to Technip’s activity. We will look at it but it won’t play an important role.”

Technip had not yet got in touch with the opponents of Muammar Qaddafi who now control most of the country, Pilenko said.

“We need to define who are the authorities that are going to take the decisions,” said the executive.

Pilenko said Libya’s priorities would be first to rebuild its oil production capacity as soon as possible, then restore its refinery and export capacity.

“What is certain is that Libya will want to rebuild its production very quickly in order to generate cash flow,” he said.

He did not expect more consolidation in the subsea engineering sector following the merger of peers Acergy and Subsea 7.

“It is difficult to see more consolidation in subsea as the actors are big and it is not reasonable for them to join forces,” said Pilenko.

“We are looking at opportunities but so far we are favoring organic growth.”

He anticipated demand in the sector would remain strong despite the current uncertain economic climate.

“If oil prices fell under $80 (a barrel), we would see projects that are delayed. But today demand is strong,” he said.

“The strongest markets are the North Sea, Brazil. And the Gulf of Mexico is restarting.”