Officials say that Libya offers 22 areas for oil exploration with attractive terms to investors

Libya will offer investors new and attractive terms in its first bid round in over 17 years. The country's top officials in the oil sector told a Libya Bid Round Roadshow held in London on Sunday.

New bidding round

Africa's second largest oil producer, and a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries(OPEC), is looking to increase its oil production.

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

Khalifa Abdsadek, the oil minister, said that the bidding would include acreage offshore the Mediterranean and in the Sirte Murzuq Ghadamis basins.

Libya is not included in the OPEC+ agreement to limit production.

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

Abdulsadek was born in January.

The country would need between $3 billion and $400 billion to achieve a production of 1.6 millions bpd. (Reporting and writing by Ahmad Ghaddar, Nayera Abdallah and Tala Ramadan Editing by David Goodman).

(source: Reuters)