Libya | Business Upturn

Indian Oil Corporation announces hydrocarbon discovery in Libya

Kinjal — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 11:28:30 +0000

Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IndianOil) has announced a significant hydrocarbon discovery in the onshore exploration Block Area 95/96, located in the Ghadames Basin of south-western Libya. This discovery is part of an Indian consortium’s exploration efforts, which includes Oil India Limited, with IndianOil holding a 25% participating interest. The block, covering approximately 6,600 square kilometres, is operated by Sonatrach International Petroleum Exploration and Production Corporation.

The consortium’s exploration programme comprises eight exploratory wells, with five already drilled. Previous drilling campaigns in the block have yielded multiple oil and gas discoveries, highlighting the block’s strong geological potential. The latest discovery was made during the drilling of the sixth exploratory well, which has now been formally recognised by the National Oil Corporation (NOC) of Libya as an additional hydrocarbon find.

This discovery further underscores the hydrocarbon potential of the Area 95/96 Block. Detailed appraisal and evaluation activities are planned to assess reservoir characteristics, firm up resource estimates, and examine the commercial viability of the discovery. These efforts will pave the way for future development planning.

This development marks an important milestone in IndianOil’s overseas upstream portfolio and aligns with the company’s strategy to strengthen its international exploration and production footprint. By leveraging partnerships, IndianOil aims to pursue selective, high-potential overseas opportunities.

Disclaimer: This article is based on a regulatory filing submitted to the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE).

Oil India announces fifth hydrocarbon discovery in Libya’s Ghadames Basin

Kinjal — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 08:06:06 +0000

Oil India Limited (OIL) has announced a significant hydrocarbon discovery in its overseas exploration efforts in Libya. The discovery was made in the onshore exploration Block Area 95/96, situated in the Ghadames Basin, south-western Libya. OIL holds a 25% participating interest in this block, which is part of an Indian consortium along with M/s IOCL.

The Ghadames Basin block covers approximately 6,630 square kilometres and is operated by M/s SIPEX. The consortium had committed to drilling eight exploratory wells, and five wells have already been completed. Of these, four wells yielded oil and gas discoveries between 2012 and 2014.

The latest discovery comes from the sixth well, A1-96/02, which has been confirmed as a new gas and oil find. The National Oil Corporation (NOC) of Libya has officially declared this as the fifth discovery in the block, highlighting the significant hydrocarbon potential of the area. Further appraisal activities are planned to assess the resource potential and facilitate the development of the discovery.

This achievement underscores Oil India Limited’s strategic focus on expanding its international exploration portfolio and marks a notable success in its overseas ventures.

Disclaimer: This article is based on a regulatory filing submitted to the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE).

India begins tenure at UNSC, chairs Taliban, Libyan & Counter Terrorism Committees

Arjun Kalia — Fri, 08 Jan 2021 08:34:27 +0000

India began its two-year tenure at United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Friday last by chairing three important committees which include the Taliban Sanctions Committee, Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) and the Libyan Sanctions Committee.

“I’m happy to announce that India has been asked to chair three important committees of the Security Council, which include the Taliban Sanctions Committee, Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) and the Libyan Sanctions Committee,” India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti said in a video message on Thursday.

India will serve its tenure as a non-permanent member of the powerful 15-nation UN body while treating Taliban Sanctions Committee, also known as the 1988 Sanctions Committee as a “high priority” keeping in mind the country’s strong interest and commitment to peace, security, development and progress of Afghanistan.

“Our chairing this committee at this juncture will help keep the focus on the presence of terrorists and their sponsors threatening the peace process in Afghanistan. It has been our view that peace process and violence cannot go hand in hand,” Tirumurti said.

He also said that Libya Sanctions Committee, also called the 1970 Sanctions Committee, is a “very important” subsidiary body of the Council wherein all member states are required to prevent the sale or supply of arms and related material to Libya; prevent the entry into or transit through their territories of all listed individuals; freeze all funds, other financial assets and economic resources that are owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by the listed individuals or entities.

“We will be assuming the chair of this committee at a critical juncture when there is an international focus on Libya and on the peace process,” he said.

The three committees are highly significant subsidiary bodies of the UNSC and India, Norway, Kenya, Ireland and Mexico will join non-permanent members Estonia, Niger, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Tunisia and Vietnam and the five permanent member nations China, France, Russia, UK and the US.

Civil wars escalated during COVID-19 pandemic in Asia-Pacific region: University Of Melbourne

Sarthak Yadav — Fri, 18 Dec 2020 10:10:37 +0000

According to a new research conducted by the University of Melbourne in Australia reported that, armed conflict activities have increased in five countries during the first wave of COVID 19.

India, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan and the Philippines all saw an escalation of civil wars because conflict parties exploited either state weakness or a lack of international attention due to the pandemic.

The research was conducted by researcher Dr Tobias Ide, a Discovery Early Career Researcher Fellow from the School of Geography, said, “I looked at the countries that had the most palpable records of conflict.”

“What I found was that rebel groups try to exploit situations in which governments are busy with containing the pandemic and its economic fallout. Increased activities of the Islamic State in Iran are just one example. At the same time, there is little international protest or support as each country is focused on its own struggle with the virus,” he added.

The study was published in ‘World development’ journal. The research was focused on examining armed conflicts in nine countries within the first six months of 2020 that had reliable data on both the pandemic and on-going conflicts.

Afghanistan, Colombia, India, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand and Yemen, all these countries were considered due to their similar Coronavirus metrics over the same study period.

Armed conflict intensity in four countries (Afghanistan, Colombia, Thailand and Yemen) decreased between March and June, the study revealed as a result of both state and rebel forces failing to get traction under the pandemic.

“However, there are few reasons to be enthusiastic about this development,” said Dr Ide. “The Taliban in Afghanistan and the ELN rebels in Colombia, for instance, reduced their attacks during the first months of the pandemic. But they also used the COVID-19 crisis to recruit new fighters among impoverished groups, and to gain public support from their own pandemic response,” the Dr added.

The study revealed that Taliban exploited the pandemic to set themselves up in contrast to the government they painted as “incompetent” in order to extend their influence and garner support for their cause in communities.

There has been consistent insurgent attacks in southern Thailand since 17 years between the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) and Thai security forces.

The research pointed out that the severe travel restrictions enforced by the Thai government in order to curb the spread of COVID-19 severely affected the BRN’s operation, who normally travel extensively to recruit new members especially in Malaysia.

India saw a rise in armed conflict during the study period, with violent clashes in the Kashmir region between Kashmiri separatists facing off against the Indian military, as well as conflicts between Pakistan and India.

“So what mostly drove the increase in conflict intensity…were basically due to two factors,” Ide said.

“The first being that there is some evidence that Pakistan sponsors or supports these insurgents in Kashmir, to encourage them to increase their attacks [on Indian forces] because they perceived them to be weak and struggling with the pandemic.”

The second factor, Ide explained, was that while Indian government enacted a “pretty comprehensive lockdown in Kashmir, and sealing it way from international media attention…launched more intense counter insurgency efforts and…cracked down on any pro Pakistani sympathy expressions.”

The civil war in Libya between the Government of National Accord’s (GNA) forces and the Libyan National Army escalated during the study period, after a ceasefire in January was broken

The ongoing conflict with India saw a rise in armed conflict in Pakistan during the study period which were unrelated to the pandemic, but also a rise in Taliban affiliated groups and anti government sentiments due to pandemic restrictions.

“There were a lot of anti government grievances, Dr Ide said, “There were restrictions on religious gatherings, which religious groups did not like, and there were some negative economic impacts which affected the local people.”

With the pandemic currently raging in the northern hemisphere and several key states in the Asia-Pacific (e.g. India and Indonesia) and international attention preoccupied with the pandemic that has so far infected some 71,581,532 according to the World Health Organisation, the findings provide important insights.

“Escalating armed conflicts pose significant obstacles when dealing with the pandemic as health infrastructure is destroyed and the government losses resources to respond to the virus,” said Dr Ide.

India embraces International Initiations for resolutions to disputes in Libya through the Intra Libya Dialogue reported Ministry of External Affairs

Agatha Boustin — Mon, 28 Sep 2020 10:35:32 +0000

On Monday, India welcomed the cosmopolitan efforts focused on peaceful resolution of the dispute in Libya through the Intra-Libyan dialogue reckoning the licit objectives of citizens while preserving Libya’s territorial integrity, unity, and sovereignty.

Anurag Srivastava, External Affairs Ministry spokesman, reported that India has been carefully observing Libya’s progressions. India has considered the development in intra-Libyan dialogue accelerated by Morocco, and the discussion in Montreux, Switzerland under the guidance of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL).

“We welcome these international efforts aimed at a peaceful settlement of the conflict through an intra-Libyan dialogue, taking into account the legitimate aspirations of the Libyan people while preserving Libya’s sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity,’’ Srivastava said during a press conference.

Libya has been best by violent disputes between different militants and factions since 2011.

The vulnerability in the country has impacted the regional security in a negative way, neighboring countries and the entire region affected. Libya’s precariousness has been a weighty concern for the European Union.

In August, the clashing sides in the Libyan dispute settled to a ceasefire. At Montreux, discussions under United Nation auspices, brought a settlement on the creation of a unity government and ensuing elections. This has established peace in Libya after nearly a decade.