By Mohammed Jetutu, in Cairo
Chevron Corporation (by its subsidiary Chevron Business Development EMEA Ltd)., has entered Libya after it was designated as a winning bidder in the 2025 Libyan Bid Round. This follows the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the country’s National Oil Corporation (NOC).
The US major was designated as the winning bidder for Contract Area 106 located in the Sirte Basin on February 11, 2026 in Libya’s 2025 Bidding Round. On January 24, 2026 Chevron separately signed an MoU with NOC in Tripoli to evaluate the development and exploration potential in the country’s onshore.
To win the Contract Area 106, Chevron elbowed out the French major TOTAL and the American independent ConocoPhillips in a stiff competition.
“Chevron is excited to enter Libya with the award of onshore Contract Area 106, which underscores our focus on North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean region, and is a good fit in our exploration strategy to grow our portfolio with high-quality acreage and high impact prospects,” said Kevin McLachlan, Vice President of Exploration at Chevron.
The Libyan entry is part of a wider Pan African and Mediterranean effort by the company
In early February 2026, Chevron signed a unitisation agreement covering the YoYo-Yolanda gas condensate discovery that straddles the maritime boundary between Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon, paving the way for its development. A month before that the company took the Final Investment Decision (FID) to expand the production capacity of the strategic Leviathan production platform located offshore Israel. The expansion project, expected to come online towards the end of this decade, is a big deal in the Mediterranean; it is right at the heart of the December 2025 deal signed between Israel and Egypt to increase the former’s gas export to the latter from 2030 to 2040.
“Libya has significant proven oil reserves and a long history of producing its resources. Chevron is confident that its proven track record in developing oil and gas projects and its technical expertise gives it the ability to support Libya to further develop its resources,” Chevron said in a statement.
The award of the Contract Area is subject to the execution of a Production Sharing Agreement.
“Chevron looks forward to our partnership with NOC and other key stakeholders in Libya. The Contract Area award and MoU are important milestones as we continue to evaluate opportunities to support Libya’s energy sector,” said Frank Mount, President of Corporate Business Development.
“Chevron has a diverse exploration and production portfolio in the Mediterranean and Africa and continues to assess potential future opportunities in the region. Chevron is one of the largest producers and acreage holders in Nigeria, Angola and Equatorial Guinea. It has two exploration blocks each in Namibia and Guinea-Bissau, and three exploration blocks in Egypt. In February, Chevron also signed an MoU in Syria”.
