By Editorial Dept - Jun 19, 2026, 6:30 AM CDT
Libya is back on the radar of the world’s largest oil companies, and Washington is trying to turn a fragile military thaw into a new source of crude supply. Libya’s National Oil Corporation has formally signed exploration and production-sharing agreements from its 2025 bid round with international companies including Repsol, Turkish Petroleum, Eni, QatarEnergy, and MOL, marking the country’s first major licensing push in 17 years. In the meantime, Libya’s production has climbed to roughly 1.4 million bpd, its highest level in more than a decade, with officials targeting 1.6 million bpd by the end of this year, and 2 million bpd further out. Now that Iran is done and dusted, from Trump’s perspective, there’s time for Libya, which holds Africa’s largest proven oil reserves, light sweet crude close to European markets, and export terminals already tied into the Mediterranean routes. Its crude has also become more valuable amid all of these Gulf disruptions that have forced refiners to search for alternative supplies. Nigeria imported Libyan crude for the first time in May; Egypt resumed purchases of Libyan crude for the first time since 2019; and Tunisia has stepped up buying. Italy remains the top destination, followed by Greece, Spain, and Turkey.Everyone is hoping that the band-aid on Libya’s political fragility holds. We are still dealing with a divided state here, and rival governments that currently have mutually beneficial setups that enrich both sides with…
