Libyan oil sector opens for foreign investment, NOC says

The building housing Libya’s oil state energy firm, the National Oil Corporation (NOC), is seen in Tripoli, Libya REUTERS/Ismail Zitouny

Libyan National Oil Corporation has announced opening the oil sector for foreign investment in a bid to recover the Libyan weakened economy.

The Chairman of the NOC, Mustafa Sanallah said Tuesday before he attends an economic conference in London, that oil production could jump almost 70 per cent by the second half of this year to more than 1.2m barrels a day if he can attract more money and defend the independence of one of Libya’s few functioning institutions.

According to the Financial Times, Sanallah argued that having rapidly increased oil production since September it had shown that it could “generate a very high rate of return” for the country from additional funding.

“We need more money than we get from the central bank,” Sanallah said. “We are the only institution that can work across this difficult environment.”

On Tuesday, he told a conference that he was lifting Libya’s “self-imposed moratorium” on overseas investment in new projects, but needs more funds to maintain the recent output increase.

Sanallah said he was confident of attracting “tens of billions” from international oil companies over the coming years to rejuvenate Libya’s oil sector, arguing that the security situation was improving in the country, with Islamic State ousted from the coastal city of Sirte at the end of last year, reported the Financial Times.

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