Libya announces the first oil exploration bid round in 17 years

Masoud Sulman, the acting chairman of the National Oil Corporation, announced on Monday that Libya will hold its first oil exploration bidding round in over 17 years.

Libya is Africa’s second largest oil producer, and a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Foreign investors are wary about investing in Libya. The country has been in chaos since Muammar Gadhafi was overthrown in 2011. Oilfields have been shut down by disputes between rival armed factions over oil revenue.

In August, Libya lost over half its oil production - about 700,000 barrels per day - and exports at several ports were halted as a standoff erupted between rival political groups over the central banking system, which threatened to bring an end to four years of relative calm.

The shutdowns continued for more than a month, with production slowly returning from early October.

It didn't stop the major oil companies Eni OMV BP and Repsol, who resumed exploration activities in Libya after a decade-long hiatus, last year. Eni, the Italian oil company, had signed a deal in 2023 for $8 billion worth of gas production with Libya's National Oil Corporation.

Khalifa Abdelsadek told reporters in January that Libya needed between $3 and $4 billion for a production of 1.6 millions bpd.

According to NOC, the country's crude production is currently over 1.4m bpd. This is about 200,000bpd below its high before the civil war.

Libya is not bound by the OPEC+ agreement to limit production. (Reporting and writing by Muhammad Al Gebaly Jaidaa, Ahmed Elumami Nayera Abdallah, Editing by Tomaszjanowski)

(source: Reuters)