Libya to launch first oil exploration bids in 17 years

Reuters/Hazem Ahmed

Libya is planning its first bidding round for oil exploration in more than 17 years, Masoud Suleman, acting chairman of the National Oil Corporation (NOC), announced in a televised address on Monday.

Libya is Africa’s second-largest oil producer and a member of the Organsation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec).

Foreign investors have been wary of putting money into Libya, which has been in a state of chaos since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Disputes between armed rival factions over oil revenues have often led to oilfields shutdowns.

In August, Libya lost more than half of its oil production, about 700,000 barrels per day (bpd), and exports were halted at several ports as a standoff between rival political factions over the central bank threatened to end four years of relative peace.

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The shutdowns lasted for over a month, with production gradually resuming from early October.

That did not stop the big oil companies Eni, OMV, BP and Repsol from resuming exploration activities in Libya last year after halting them for a decade. Italy’s Eni had already signed an $8 billion gas production deal in 2023 with the state-owned NOC.

In January, Libya’s acting oil minister, Khalifa Abdulsadek, told Reuters the country needed between $3 billion and $4 billion to reach output of 1.6 million bpd.

The country’s current crude production has reached more than 1.4 million bpd, about 200,000 bpd short of its pre-civil war high, according to the NOC.

Libya is exempt from Opec+ agreements to limit output.