FILE- The Brega oil port in Marsa Brega, 270 km west of Libya’s eastern city of Benghazi. AFP
Libya has Africa's largest oil reserves, at an estimated 48.4 billion barrels.
"The winners of the new round of licences for foreign companies will be announced between February and March," NOC board of directors member Hussain Safar told AFP.
The permits notably concern "promising offshore areas", he said in Tripoli on the sidelines of the Libya-Africa International Gas Forum.
Libya's last call for tenders for hydrocarbon exploration, in 2007-2008, focused on natural gas exploration.
The authorities launched their latest public tender in March in a bid to draw major global energy companies back to the resource-rich country after years of political instability and fluctuations in production levels.
Short link: