Libya’s energy sector is rebounding, attracting global investors and signaling a renewed commitment to production expansion, gas monetization and long-term partnerships. At the Libya Energy&Economic Summit (LEES) 2026 in Tripoli on Saturday, officials outlined a clear roadmap for growth, reform and regional collaboration.
Libya and Russia have held talks aimed at strengthening cooperation in the oil and gas sector. Khalifa Rajab Abdul Sadiq, Libya’s Minister of Oil and Gas, met with the Russian Ambassador to Libya, Aidar Aganin, in Tripoli on Monday.
Libya has started drilling its first deepwater oil and gas exploration well in the Gulf of Sirte, marking a new step in the country’s offshore energy strategy. The operation is part of a project involving Italy’s Eni, BP, the Libyan Investment Authority, and the National Oil Corporation, according to Libyan media reports on January 17.
Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) said on Tuesday its wholly-owned subsidiary Arabian Gulf Oil Company (ACOGO) has made a new oil discovery in the Ghadames basin in northwestern Libya, close to the Libyan-Algerian border.
The National Oil Corporation of Libya said that the Italian supermajor had started drilling at Block 16/4 in the northwestern part of the country’s territorial waters and will soon complete work on the exploration well that was started back in 2020.
The National Oil Corp. wants its unit Arabian Gulf Oil Co. to develop discovered gas deposits in the NC-7 block in western Libya, potentially in collaboration with consortium partners Eni SpA, TotalEnergies SE, Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. and Turkish Petroleum Corp., according to a letter from the NOC to Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, the prime minister of Libya’s internationally recognized government.
Libya’s eastern-based parliament is preparing to approve a 2019 maritime pact that would allow Turkey to explore for oil and gas in Libyan waters, according to people familiar with the talks in Benghazi and Ankara. Most obstacles to the accord have been cleared, they said, a striking reversal for the east—long aligned with commander Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army and historically opposed to Turkish involvement. Tripoli, which already maintains close ties with Ankara, backs the deal.
“This agreement reflects our strong interest in deepening our partnership with NOC and supporting the future of Libya’s energy sector,” said BP Executive Vice President of Gas and Low Carbon Energy William Lin. “We hope to apply BP’s experience from redeveloping and managing giant oil fields around the world.”
Chevron Corp. and TotalEnergies SE are competing in Libya’s first energy exploration tender since the 2011 conflict, the country’s state-run oil firm said, as the OPEC member looks to oil majors to help ramp up production to a record.
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.