Libya’s mature & frontier basins – “New opportunities for hydrocarbon exploration and production with an emphasis on Palaeozoic prospectivity”

Libya has been a global favourite for hydrocarbon exploration ever since 1956, when the first wildcat well was drilled. This attraction was primarily a result of the phenomenal success rate of oil discovery in the Sirt Basin (Figure 1) where 19 of the 21 giant fields, with recoverable reserves of 40 billion barrels of oil (bbl), are located. Surprisingly, its ease of exploitation has not diminished the drive for hydrocarbon exploration in neighbouring basins to the west (Ghadames) and southwest (Murzuq) where the search for hydrocarbons continues unabated. It is worth noting that several of the most important, recent discoveries were made between 1979 and 2000, in the absence of an aggressive drilling programme. New play concepts developed during this period have undoubtedly contributed to recent successes, through fruitful collaborations between oil companies and academia.