Libya has invited Turkish companies to take part in oil production and receive a higher share of oil and gas reserves in the country.

This was made known on Sunday by the Head of the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK) Turkey-Libya Business Council, Murtaza Karanfil. He said the Board had gathered 35 Turkish firms together with officials from the Libyan Council for Oil and Gas, and an agreement will be signed soon.

During the meeting, representatives from both countries shared views on the extracting and processing of oil and gas. Over the years, Turkey has stated its commitment for lasting cooperation with Libya in many areas including the oil and gas exploration. Both countries signed a pact on maritime borders in the Eastern Mediterranean in 2019.

The maritime pact signed asserted Turkey’s right in the region in the face of unilateral drilling by the Greek Cypriot administration, clarifying that the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) also has rights to the resources of the region. Before 2011, Turkey had been conducting oil exploration and production in Libya for close to 20 years.

From January to August 2020, Turkey’s export to Libya is estimated at around $1 billion. But Karanfil said there is a potential of $10 billion in exports to Libya with additional investments in air, land and railway if properly managed.

Aside from the soon to be signed agreement, last month, the central banks of Turkey and Libya signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enhance financial cooperation. In August, both countries signed an MoU to boost trade and economic ties, to lay the groundwork to resolve ongoing issues and open paths to new investments and projects.

Earlier this month, Turkish Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank and Libyan Central Bank Governor Saddek Omar El Kaber and the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) Chairman Dr Ali Mahmoud also signed an economy, technology cooperation protocol.

Last week, a senior Turkish Energy Ministry official confirmed Turkey are in talks for oil and gas exploration in Libya. He said, “We are in talks with some potential new agreements and new fields, but mainly the areas we’re looking at are the oil production areas. We are also discussing some potential offshore blocks.”

Excerpts from Murtaza Karanfil’s statement:

“Libyan authorities have invited Turkish gas and oil companies to Libya, stressing that Turkish energy companies have not been able to not get the necessary share of oil and gas reserves in the country and should receive a higher share.”

“We hope that the negotiations we initiated with the Libyan Oil and Gas Council at their request will be the beginning of a process that will result in the increased interest of the two countries,” he told Andolu Agency (AA). “In the coming periods, we plan to sign an agreement on this issue, and we believe that this will create an unbreakable corridor between us and Libya.”

“We hope that in the future, Turkish companies will have the opportunity to extract and process gas and oil from Libya.”

“Libya’s oil revenue of about $90 billion, has fallen all the way down to 20 percents and there have even been periods when they had almost no income in this area.”

“As soon as the pandemic is over, we will also make a delegation visit to address oil and gas issues. As Turkey, we want to have a share in Libya in order to support our investments in our drilling ships in Libya in recent years.”

“With the recovery we have experienced since June, we plan to close the year with $1.5 billion worth of exports. Considering the Libyan population of around 6 million, our exports of $1 billion are actually not a bad figure.”

“These goodwill agreements are very promising.”