Special Report: Oil & Gas - Contractors rank regional state energy firms

Since the US lifted sanctions against Tripoli in 2006, international oil companies have been working closely with Libya’s National Oil Corporation to step up oil and gas exploration efforts in the country. Respondents to MEED’s survey praise its management and the transparency of the contract award process.

Foreign companies with experience of working in Tripoli advise patience when dealing with the Libyan state energy giant, in part because of the frequency with which the General People’s Congress issues decrees that threaten to change the business operating environment.

Recent contract awards have demonstrated that Tripoli recognises that, in practice, the country relies on foreign expertise to develop its oil and gas resources.

Libya’s national oil company may not be run perfectly, but it shows that the country’s reputation as an impossible market in which to work is undeserved, and the potential of markets outside the Gulf should not be overlooked.

List of Special Report articles:

• National Oil Company Survey: The return of resource nationalism

• National Oil Company Survery: Abu Dhabi National Oil Company

• National Oil Company Survey: Bahrain Petroleum Company

• National Oil Company Survey: Egypt General Petroleum Corporation

• National Oil Company Survey: Iraq

• National Oil Company Survey: Kuwait Petroleum Corporation

• National Oil Company Survey: National Iranian Oil Company

• National Oil Company Survey: National Oil Corporation (Libya)

• National Oil Company Survey: Petroleum Development Oman

• National Oil Company Survey: Qatar Petroleum

• National Oil Company Survey: Saudi Aramco

• National Oil Company Survey: Sonatrach (Algeria)

• Commentary: Regional state energy firms are improving