Libya’s latest upstream licensing round has already attracted more than 40 applicants, a signal of the country’s re-entry into the global energy arena and growing interest in its largely untapped hydrocarbon potential. This update was shared by Abdolkabir Alfakhry, Advisor to Libya’s Minister of Oil and Gas, during a session sponsored by ConocoPhillips at the Invest in African Energy Forum in Paris on Wednesday.
Turkey is currently in talks to explore for oil and gas in Bulgaria, with similar plans for exploration in Iraq and Libya, Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar has revealed. According to the minister, state-owned energy company Turkiye Petrolleri AO (TPAO) will sign an agreement with an unnamed foreign partner within the next month to conduct exploration in Bulgaria’s section of the Black Sea.
Libyan officials have revealed key details of the country’s first oil and gas exploration licensing round in nearly two decades, with 22 blocks on offer under revamped production-sharing agreements designed to attract foreign capital and accelerate upstream growth.
The bid round plans were first announced last month.
Libya resumed loading oil from two key eastern ports — which account for a third of its exports — after they were halted for a day by protesters.
Libya’s top international operators and the National Oil Corporation (NOC) will take center stage at the Libya Energy & Economic Summit in Tripoli next week for the panel Unlocking Libya: The Next Frontier for Exploration and Investment.
Libya’s oil production has risen to the highest daily level in more than a decade, just months after a political crisis slashed the country’s output.
Protesters shut down oil distribution valves in response to the kidnapping of a senior intelligence officer, for which they blame the government in Tripoli.
OPEC member Libya plans to offer blocks both onshore and offshore in the tender expected by the end of 2024 or in early 2025, the official told Bloomberg.
After engaging major oil companies in the domestic market, such as Eni Spa, Libya’s national oil company Noc announced that production has risen back above 1.3 million barrels per day.
Libya’s eastern-based government and Tripoli-based National Oil Corp (NOC) announced on Thursday the reopening of all oil fields and export terminals after a dispute over leadership of the central bank was resolved.