Libya has, for the first time in the country's history, given domestic private companies the opportunity to invest in the field of oil production.
Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) called on private Libyan companies to invest in the field as part of the strategy of "increasing oil production and developing small oil fields," according to a statement released on Sunday.
A tender will be opened for the receipt of investment proposals, and after the technical evaluation of the proposals, they will be sent to the NOC for approval, the NOC said.
Before the latest move, domestic private companies were involved only in drilling, transportation, and other logistics fields, but with this decision, they can also participate in oil production.
This is "a major transformation" for the Libyan oil sector, Libyan economist Ali ez-Zilitni told Anadolu news agency. The country is one of the top oil producers in Africa exporting crude worth about $27 billion in 2021 alone.
He said the sector would emerge from the monopoly of international energy giants with the involvement of domestic private companies in oil and gas production.
