Libya signs agreements with international companies to divide oil production

Ahmed Salem

The head of Libya’s National Oil Corporation, Masoud Suleiman, announced on Monday the signing of production-sharing agreements with a number of major international energy companies, following the country’s first round of exploration licensing in nearly two decades.

According to Suleiman, in a post on social media, the agreements included the Spanish company Repsol, the Turkish Petroleum Corporation, the Italian company Eni, and Qatar Energy, in addition to an alliance that includes the Hungarian MOL Group, the Turkish Petroleum Corporation and Repsol.

These agreements come in the wake of a public bidding round launched by Libya in 2025, which resulted in the awarding of a number of exploration areas to foreign companies, as part of the efforts of the country, a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), to attract foreign investment and enhance its production capabilities.

Libyan efforts to increase its oil production

Libya is seeking to raise its oil production to 2 million barrels per day, compared to about 1.4 million barrels per day currently, by expanding exploration and development activities and increasing investments in the sector.

Suleiman said that the new agreements fall within the organization’s strategy aimed at supporting exploration and development work, attracting quality investments, and contributing to the implementation of plans to increase production in a way that achieves added value for the national economy.

Last February, Libya granted exploration licenses to companies including Chevron, Eni, Qatar Energy and Repsol, in the country’s first licensing round since 2007, despite the ongoing political division between the two rival administrations in the east and west of the country.

Fears of falling into the trap of dividing Libya

Public opinion in Libya is suffering from fears of falling into the trap of dividing the country into multiple regions, coinciding with the emergence of successive initiatives to establish new regions.

Following each initiative, fears escalate of a deepening political and geographical division in the country, and the redrawing of the Libyan state map based on random and tribal whims and foundations.

The initiatives for division began with the announcement by politician and head of the Summit Party, Abdullah Al-Naker, of his intention to establish the “Greater Hamada Region”.

This comes a week after the city of Misrata announced the establishment of what it calls the ”Central Region,” a move that has increased the controversy over the future form of the Libyan state.

The increase in similar projects in other parts of the country is fueling concerns, especially as the Libyan state is still suffering from fragile institutions and stalled settlement processes.

Libya: The goals behind the partition initiatives

The aim of creating zoning and regionalization projects is to guarantee the rights of the residents of these areas and to achieve justice in the distribution of opportunities, services and development, according to some of those in charge of these initiatives.

They emphasized that these proposed projects fall within the demands for expanding decentralization and strengthening local administration, without carrying any separatist character for the country's regions from each other.

The calls for division that have begun to appear inside Libya have raised many questions about whether the country is heading towards a new stage of tribal and regional pluralism, amid widespread fears about the deepening of the division and its entry into serious stages, especially with the rise of regional rhetoric in a number of regions.