Supermajors ExxonMobil, Chevron, TotalEnergies, and Eni are competing in Libya’s first oil bid round in 18 years, Masoud Suleman, chairman of Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC), told Bloomberg in an interview published on Wednesday.
Libya earlier this year launched its first oil and gas exploration tender since 2007, which is also the first since the civil war erupted in the country in 2011 after the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi.
Exxon, Chevron, TotalEnergies, and Eni are among the 37 international companies that have expressed interest in Libyan acreage for oil and gas exploration, NOC’s Suleman told Bloomberg.
“Almost all well-known international companies” are competing for the 22 offshore and onshore blocks on offer, the executive added.
Libya aims to sign contracts with the successful bidders by the end of this year, Suleman told Bloomberg.
Libya will offer production sharing agreements to the successful bidders in its first oil and gas exploration bid round in 18 years, top Libyan oil officials said earlier this year.
Libya is offering a total of 22 blocks for exploration and development,
11 offshore and 11 onshore blocks, including areas with undeveloped discoveries.
Libya holds an estimated 91 billion barrels of oil equivalent in undiscovered oil and gas resources, NOC says.
The country’s crude oil production is currently around 1.3-1.4 million barrels per day (bpd).
The national corporation looks to boost oil production to 2 million bpd within the next three years, “contingent on sufficient funding.”
Foreign majors have also made steps to return to operations in Libya.
BP and Eni, for example, returned to Libya last year after a decade of avoiding the country amid its civil war.
Per a statement by the NOC of Libya, Italy’s Eni resumed exploratory drilling in the Ghadames Basin in October. The company operates the exploration block where it is drilling in partnership with BP and the Libyan Investment Authority—the country’s sovereign wealth fund.
After a 10-year hiatus, U.S. oilfield services provider Weatherford also returned to work in Libya earlier this year.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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