Dbeibah promotes turning Libya into a regional gas hub despite security challenges

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Libya’s Minister of Oil and Gas is urging African energy partners to work in Libya, portraying the country as a centre and a bridge for exporting African gas to Europe, while overlooking the security risks posed by militia control in the west of the country.

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Libyan Minister of Oil and Gas Khalifa Abdussadiq invited African partners in the energy sector on Saturday to operate in Libya, describing it as a hub and corridor for exporting African gas to Europe. He stated that Libya’s location gives it both the responsibility and the opportunity to become a central route for African gas flows in the future, although this vision overlooks the country’s unstable political and security environment.

Speaking at the opening of the first Libya-Africa Gas Forum, Abdussadiq said that Libya stands “at one of the most strategic geopolitical intersections in the world, between Europe, the Middle East and Africa”, a position with deep economic, commercial and operational significance.

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However, the minister ignores the impact of political division and militia dominance in western Libya, where armed groups control oil-smuggling routes. Numerous reports accuse these militias of illegitimately seizing control of oil and gas transport lines and revenues.

He added: “Our message to our African brothers: join us, connect with us and use Libya as a route to export your gas to Europe and beyond,” noting that Libyan companies are ready for such partnerships.

On the forum’s opening day, held over two days at the Lancaster – Burj Al-Hayat Hotel in Tripoli, he said: “We are at the heart of the intersection between global demand, regional supply and strategic trade routes. Our partners and neighbours in Europe urgently need gas to meet their energy-security requirements.”

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Abdussadiq stressed that Libya is ready “to coordinate, aggregate, process and export high-value African gas molecules across the Mediterranean.” This effort, he said, requires smarter financing, advanced technologies, genuine expertise transfer, regulatory frameworks and infrastructure that can link African nations to Libya.

Libya operates the Greenstream pipeline, a joint venture between the National Oil Corporation and Italy’s Eni (North Africa branch), which transports natural gas to Italy with a capacity of about 11 billion cubic metres per year.

He stated that Libya is capable of exporting large quantities of gas to Europe, a key factor enabling the oil-producing nation to become “the hub and the bridge connecting Africa and Europe, and we are ready for that.”

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Before the NATO-backed uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya — the second-largest oil producer in Africa and a member of OPEC — produced 1.6 million barrels of oil per day.

According to the minister, the country currently produces around 1.4 million barrels per day and approximately 2.5 billion cubic feet of gas per day.

Abdussadiq said that Libya possesses around 200 trillion cubic feet of potential gas, 70 trillion cubic feet of proven reserves and 129 unconventional sources.

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Meanwhile, Hussein Safar, a board member of the National Oil Corporation, stated that the forum marks a turning point in how Libya develops its gas resources and in the level of cross-border cooperation among African states to maximise the use of their export corridors.

He added that Libya “has one of the largest gas resources in Africa, in addition to one of the most strategic export corridors, while most of these resources remain untapped and unexplored.”

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In March, the National Oil Corporation announced its first bidding round in more than 17 years, covering 22 areas for exploration and development — 11 offshore and 11 onshore. The announcement comes as Libya aims to increase oil production to two million barrels per day in the coming years.

In November, the corporation stated that it is close to completing the stages of the public exploration tender, with companies due to submit offers and open bids in February 2026. Around 40 companies have expressed interest in participating.

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