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Libya’s Tripoli-based government signed a 25-year oil development agreement with France's TotalEnergies and the US’s ConocoPhillips that could more than double the output of its Waha Oil company.
Waha, a subsidiary of Libya’s state-owned National Oil Corporation, is producing roughly 350,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd). The agreement signed on Saturday will unlock $20bn in investments intended to increase production to 850,000 bpd.
Waha, ConocoPhillips and TotalEnergies will develop four new oil fields as part of the agreement, which includes an exploration programme for 19 concession areas.
Tripoli expects at least $376bn in revenue over the next 25 years from the agreement, Libya’s Prime Minister Abdul Hamid al-Dbeibah wrote on X.
He said that Tripoli’s partnership with ConocoPhillips and Total “represent a qualitative and unique achievement, reflecting the strengthening of [Libya’s] relations with the largest and most influential international partners in the global energy sector”.
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The deals were announced at an energy and economic summit in Tripoli attended by US envoy Massad Boulos, who is also the father-in-law of US President Donald Trump’s daughter Tiffany.
"The National Oil Corporation’s announcement regarding the expansion of the Waha Consortium partnership with ConocoPhillips is a prime example of the deepening collaboration between the United States and Libya," the US embassy to Libya said in a statement.
GeopoliticsLibya is home to Africa's largest oil reserves and once had daily production close to that of fellow Opec member Saudi Arabia. But international investment in Libya's oil sector waned following the 2011 Nato-backed uprising that ousted former longtime Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Libyan oil is some of the cheapest in the world to extract, and the deals could allow Total and ConocoPhillips to tap those supplies for decades to come.
The deal also has geopolitical significance. It is a vote of confidence by the international energy companies, along with the governments of France and the US, in Dbeibeh’s Tripoli-based government.
Dbeibeh was sworn in as president in 2021 with a United Nations mandate to lead a transition government and usher in democratic elections. The vote never took place. Backed by powerful militias, he has clung to power.
Meanwhile, eastern Libya is ruled by former CIA asset and general, Khalifa Haftar. The 82-year-old's sons are jockeying for influence. Saddam Haftar, who heads the army, is courting the US, Gulf states, and, more recently, Turkey for backing.
Egypt hosts secret talks between Sudan's Burhan and Libya's Haftar in bid to mend ties, sources say
Read More »After Gaddafi's removal, Libya descended into a civil war that transformed into a proxy conflict with Russia, the UAE, Egypt, and France backing Haftar, and Turkey supporting the government in Tripoli.
The energy deals underscore how those hard divisions are vanishing as Libya’s elite and foreign governments jockey for power.
Egypt has signed an energy deal with Dbeibeh’s Tripoli government amid feuds with the Haftar family over its support for the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary fighting the Sudanese army, which is backed by Cairo, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
Cairo has tried to mediate between the Haftars and Sudanese General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, but weapons and gas continue to flow from southeastern Libya to the RSF, Middle East Eye has reported. Saddam Haftar is especially close to the UAE.
The US has sought to play both sides of Libya. Following his visit to Tripoli, Boulos travelled to Benghazi in eastern Libya, where he met with Saddam Haftar, his brother Belgasem, and Aguila Saleh, the speaker of eastern Libya’s parliament, backed by the Haftar family.
Boulos has come under scrutiny for his dealings in Libya. Last year, he held discussions with Dbeibah’s top advisor about unlocking billions of dollars in the country’s sanctioned frozen wealth funds, MEE was the first to reveal.
The two sides discussed putting some funds into investments with US companies in Libya. The New York Times later confirmed the story.
In September, the NYT reported that Boulos’s son, Michael, and his wife, Tiffany Trump, spent the summer cruising on a luxury yacht owned by a Turkish billionaire with interests in Libyan oil.