International energy companies are returning to Libya as the north African country’s oil, gas and renewables industries ramp up again after years of disruption caused by political turmoil.
EAGE is at the vanguard of efforts to ensure that Libya’s energy industry is open for international partnerships by organising the Libya Petroleum & Geoscience Conference and Exhibition in Tripoli on 18-20 October 2027.
With the theme, ‘Unlocking the Hydrocarbon Potential of North Africa and the Mediterranean,’ the conference, organised in partnership with the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), brings together national oil companies (NOCs), international majors, and wildcat explorers to plot the future of the region’s vast, oil-rich basins.
Libya is viewed as an increasingly attractive investment as a result of the continuing closure and restriction of oil and gas through the Strait of Hormuz between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman following the US conflict with Iran.
‘With Europe increasingly focusing on nearby North African supply and Libya pushing to break production ceilings, the event serves as a potential marketplace for negotiating new concession blocks, securing rig availability, and locking down multi-billion-dollar joint ventures,’ said Raymond Cahill, EAGE’s Regional Manager MEA.
Libya holds Africa’s largest proven oil resources, estimated at 48.4 to 50 billion barrels, which is mostly high quality, sweet (low sulphur) crude oil. But the country has been blighted by conflict and instability since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Since the establishment of the UN-backed Government of National Unity in 2021, Libya’s NOC insists that the country is on the road to long-term stability.
As a key supplier of oil to Europe, Libya’s importance has risen since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The country pumped 1.25 million b/d in January, according to the latest Platts OPEC+ Survey, and nearly 1.4 million bpd in July and is expected to rise to 1.6 million bpd by the end of the year. Libya is targeting 2 million b/d by 2030.
Cahill added: ‘The official Technical Committee shows strong interest and engagement across the global energy sector, with official invitations extended to over 35 leading international oil companies (IOCs), national oil companies (NOCs), service providers, and academic institutions.
‘The event has secured participation from major industry players — including Eni, TotalEnergies, Shell, Repsol, BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Equinor, OMV, and Harbour Energy — alongside top oilfield service and geoscientific firms like SLB, Halliburton Landmark, Baker Hughes and TGS. Regional regulatory and national bodies, such as Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC), Zallaf Oil & Gas, Sonatrach, EGAS, ETAP, ONHYM, and Saudi Aramco, are actively engaged on the technical steering team. Crucially, the committee features high-level executive decision-makers, including general managers, global new ventures directors, and regional exploration managers, underscoring the strategic priority that key industry leaders are placing on Libya's petroleum geoscience potential and upcoming market opportunities.’
"The event has secured participation from major industry players."
History of Libyan production
Libya passed a Petroleum Law in 1955, opening up concessions to foreign energy companies. Major commercial discoveries began in Libya in 1959, including the Zelten field in the Sirte Basin. Production peaked at more than 3 million barrels per day (bpd) in 1970.
After the 1969 coup, Muammar Gaddafi established the National Oil Corporation (NOC), nationalising foreign assets and demanding a higher share of revenues. Production declined in the 1980s and 1990s, partly owing to economic sanctions.
Sanctions were eased in the 2000s and production recovered to roughly 1.6 million bpd by 2010, supplying European markets like Italy, Germany, and France.
The civil war and fall of Gaddafi in 2011 caused a catastrophic collapse in output. Over the next decade the volatile political situation led to production falling to below 500,000 bpd.
Production has since recovered to around to 1.4 million bpd this year.
Turning point
A licensing round held in February 2026 has been hailed as a ‘turning point’ for Libya’s energy industry.
The round included 22 oil and gas blocks, split equally between onshore and offshore, and featuring both mature fields in need of redevelopment and untapped discoveries.
Libya’s National Oil Corp awarded oil and gas exploration licences to Chevron, Eni, Repsol, Hungary’s MOL, a consortium of Eni, QatarEnergy, Chevron and Nigeria’s Aiteo and others in the country’s first post-revolution bid round.
Chevron has returned to Libya after a 16-year absence, winning Contract Area 106 in the Sirte Basin. The award follows a memorandum of understanding signed between Libya NOC and the US company in January to ‘evaluate opportunities in Libya’.
Shell, BP and ExxonMobil have also returned to the country.
Libya’s prime minister Abdul Hamid al-Dbeiba called the bid round the ‘most significant event in Libya’s oil sector for 17 years’ and hailed the improvement in the political and security situation, which has led to renewed interest in Libya’s oil and gas sector.
Kevin McLachlan, vice-president of exploration at Chevron, noted Libya’s ‘significant proven oil reserves’ and strong production history. ‘Chevron is excited to enter Libya with the award of onshore Contract Area 106, which underscores our focus on North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean region, and is a good fit in our exploration strategy to grow our portfolio with high-quality acreage and high impact prospects.’
Eni, which last year produced 162,000 boe/d in Libya, won block O1 in the offshore extension of the Sirte Oil and Gas province in partnership with QatarEnergy. ‘It offers notable exploration potential, including wide areas without 3D seismic coverage that could host additional hydrocarbon accumulations,’ said Eni in a statement. ‘The block also features various hydrocarbon indications, including stranded oil and gas discoveries.’
“The block offers notable exploration potential, including wide areas without 3D seismic coverage that could host additional hydrocarbon accumulations.”
Repsol – which operates Libya's largest field, the 300,000 b/d Sharara project – was awarded two blocks, O7 offshore and C3 onshore. It will operate both but will be joined in O7 by Turkey’s TPAO and Hungary’s MOL, while TPAO will be its partner in the onshore C3 licence. ‘Repsol is confident [the awards] will unlock a new phase of growth and reinforce the company's long-term presence in the country,’ the company said in a statement. The O7 block covers more than 10,300 km2 in water depths exceeding 1500 m, located approximately 140 km northwest of Benghazi.
Libya NOC chairman Masoud Suleman said the round ‘represents a major turning point for reviving Libya’s oil sector and doubling the country’s crude-oil production. This, in turn, will foster an economic renaissance.’
“This round represents a major turning point for reviving Libya’s oil sector and doubling the country’s crude-oil production.”
Dr Abdussalam Aziz, senior technical adviser of the Libya National Oil Company and member of the management committee for exploration and production of Zallaf Libya Oil, attended the recent EAGE Annual Conference and Exhibition in Aberdeen to promote Libya’s expanding energy industry. ‘The political situation is more stable with the UN-backed Government of National Unity in Tripoli established. The budget is better than before. Cooperation is back to normal and all the international companies operating here are back to their normal activities.’
Companies such as Eni, TotalEnergies, OMV, Repsol and Wintershall are negotiating to exploit the undeveloped Brun field. Another 50 companies are showing an interest in coming back to Libya, said Aziz.
“Cooperation is back to normal and all the international companies operating here are back to their normal activities.”
‘We have had a gap of 10 years. I have been working for ExxonMobil in the Middle East since 2012, but have now returned to work in Libya. There are lots of unconventional undeveloped resources. IOCs are moving their ex-pats back in.’
Technical programme
The Libya Petroleum Geoscience Conference and Exhibition will cover the subsurface complexities of North Africa and the Mediterranean. The agenda highlights deployment of advanced 3D/4D seismic acquisition, seismic imaging and inversion, structural geology modelling, and high-resolution reservoir characterisation to reduce exploration and development uncertainty. Special emphasis will be placed on unlocking stratigraphic traps and optimising development in complex settings like the Sirte, Ghadames, Cyrenaica and Murzuq basins, alongside deepwater offshore plays on the Pelagian Shelf.
Delegates will delve into petrophysics, sequence stratigraphy, sedimentology, petroleum systems, and reservoir geochemistry, leveraging these disciplines to strengthen reservoir understanding and maximise fluid-flow efficiency.
Furthermore, the event bridges traditional geoscience with the energy transition, addressing the geological modelling required for subsurface characterisation and monitoring for carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS), deep saline aquifer management, geothermal resource assessment, and the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning into automated seismic interpretation and reservoir modelling.
The Regional Geology, Tectonics, and Basin Analysis Session will cover regional-scale basin evaluation and the role of tectonic evolution on petroleum systems. Tectonic evolution and structural deformation of Libyan basins, Pelagian Shelf, Offshore Sirt and Mediterranean Ridge will be presented. Stratigraphic Frameworks, sedimentology and depositional environmental models will be presented to define exploration plays in the North African clastic and carbonate reservoirs.
The Geophysics, Seismic Acquisition, and Subsurface Imaging Session will focus on advanced land and marine seismic acquisition for complex Mediterranean geology as well as imaging and velocity model-building to unlock the Libyan subsurface. It will cover rock physics, seismic inversion, and Amplitude Versus Offset (AVO) analysis for fluid and lithology prediction along with time-lapse (4D) seismic monitoring for fluid-front tracking and reservoir management in mature reservoirs and applications of AI and machine learning (ML) to automate seismic interpretation and subsurface imaging.
The Reservoir Engineering and Production Optimisation Session will cover integrated static and dynamic reservoir modelling for complex structural and stratigraphic networks and enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) and Improved Oil Recovery (IOR) techniques. Delegates will also learn about petrophysical evaluation of low-resistivity pay zones, thin bedded reservoirs, and fractured carbonate reservoirs.
The Drilling, Well Engineering, and Field Operations Session will cover managed pressure drilling (MPD) and Extended-Reach Drilling (ERD) in narrow pressure windows, high-Temperature / High-Pressure (HTHP) well design, rig automation; digital drilling technologies, and real-time operations centre (RTOC) workflows; well logging, formation evaluation, geosteering for optimised well placement; and drilling optimisation through real-time data analytics.
The Subsurface Decarbonisation and Energy Transition Session will focus on characterisation for Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage (CCUS). Delegates will receive presentations on caprock integrity, geomechanical assessment, and structural integrity modelling for safe, long-term CO2 storage. The session will also consider the potential for other renewable energies in Libya, including geothermal energy from co-produced, high-temperature oilfield brines and depleted reservoirs; and subsurface hydrogen storage: evaluating the feasibility of salt caverns and depleted reservoirs in North Africa.
The Digital Transformation, Artificial Intelligence, and Emerging Technologies Session will focus on how digital geoscience, digital oilfield technologies, cloud computing, and high-performance computing (HPC) can maximise recovery of resources. Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and generative AI will be a big focus for advanced visualisation and big data integration.
The Call for Abstracts for the EAGE/ AAPG Libya Petroleum & Geoscience Conference & Exhibition is open and the deadline to submit is 22 March 2027.
The Call for Abstracts for the EAGE/ AAPG Libya Petroleum & Geoscience Conference & Exhibition is open and the deadline to submit is 22 March 2027.
The Libya Petroleum Geoscience Conference and Exhibition: Unlocking the hydrocarbon potential of North Africa and the Mediterranean will be held at the Rexus Hotel in Tripoli on 18-20 October 2027.
Find out more at the event website.
