Officials said Libya, which produces 1.63 million barrels per day, plans to open its third oil and gas licencing round since 2004. They said Western firms would be invited to bid for the exploration projects.

"Libya will offer a group of exploration blocks in a third licencing round based upon full transparency and competition," Libyan National Oil Corp. chairman Shukri Ghanem said.

Ghanem, quoted by the official Libyan news agency, did not provide a date for the next round of bids, Middle East Newsline reported. Earlier, his predecessor, Abdullah Al Badri, said the round would begin by April 2006.