Libya's National Oil Corporation said Wednesday that its Exploration Department held a first technical meeting with a consortium of Spain's Repsol, Turkey's TPAO and Hungary's MOL on exploration work planned for 2027^1,2.

NOC said the group was awarded Block 22, a deep-water offshore tract with water depths of as much as 2,000 meters, in the latest public bid round². Reuters reported the same award as an offshore license in the Sirte basin granted in January¹.

The corporation said talks focused on the consortium's proposed plans, including a 2,676-square-kilometer 3D seismic survey and a 1,500-kilometer 2D linear seismic survey, both scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2027^1,2.

NOC said the meeting was part of its oversight of offshore exploration and of efforts to deepen partnerships with international operators to raise oil and gas reserves and support the national economy². Reuters, citing the corporation, likewise described the session as aimed at strategic partnerships to increase reserves¹.

Reuters noted that the licensing round was Libya's first since 2007 and that hydrocarbons account for more than 95% of the country's economic output, figures that do not appear in the NOC English statement reviewed^1,2.

The NOC post does not say when drilling might follow the surveys, what spending is committed, or how the work fits production-sharing terms signed earlier in 2026².