Where Software Fits in Libya's Digital Oilfield
Libya's Oil and Gas Ministry is asking local developers to fill the digital oilfield gap. The tools that matter first, and how to prototype one in weeks.
Libya's oilfields have a software gap, and the Oil and Gas Ministry is now asking local developers to fill it. Most of what fields need first is not robotics or autonomous drilling. It is plain, reliable tools that put the right data in front of the right engineer.
The call to Libyan developers
On 21 October, Energy Capital & Power published a release on Libya's digital oilfield push. It says the Ministry of Oil and Gas launched a New Energy Tech initiative this year. The model is simple: energy companies name a specific operating problem, Libyan teams build a prototype, and the ones that work get linked to companies for real deployment.
The release ties this to the National Oil Corporation's goal of raising output toward 2 million barrels per day. It also lists the groundwork already in place:
- March 2026: Sirte Oil Company ran Libya's first fully autonomous AI geosteering job at the Al-Khair field with SLB, doubling the drilling rate.
- December 2025: a connectivity project by Aljeel Aljadeed Technology and Hatif Libya began linking more than 200 sites, including over 80 oilfields and ports.
- September 2024: NOC signed its "Toward Smart Oil Cities" agreements with Al-Madar, Libyana and Hatif Libya.
One caveat. Energy Capital & Power organises the LEES 2027 summit in Tripoli, so this is a promotional release, and we could not confirm the initiative's details from a second source. The direction it describes is still worth taking seriously.
Where software fits
Connectivity gets data out of the field. Software decides whether anyone uses it. Three kinds of tools close most of that gap, and none needs a large budget to start.
| Tool | Field problem it solves | What a first version does |
|---|---|---|
| Operations dashboard | Production and equipment data sit in spreadsheets, emails and separate vendor systems | Pulls well rates, pressures and alarms into one screen per field, with daily trends and simple thresholds |
| Digital maintenance log | Work orders live on paper or WhatsApp, so failure history is lost when staff rotate | Lets technicians log jobs from a phone, attach photos, and see each pump or compressor's full history |
| AI assistant over well data | Engineers spend hours finding old reports, test results and drilling records | Answers plain questions in Arabic or English from the company's own documents, and shows the source for every answer |
The order matters. A dashboard is only as good as the data behind it, and an AI assistant is only as good as the records it reads. Clean maintenance logs make both of the others better.
These tools also have to work in Libyan conditions: patchy links at remote sites, bilingual teams, and data that must stay on the company's own servers. That is where a local team has an edge over an imported platform.
From field problem to working prototype in weeks
A useful prototype takes weeks, not a year-long tender. The trick is to start from one problem on one site, with the people who live with it.
- Week 1: pick one problem. Sit with the field engineers and agree on a single, measurable pain, such as "we find out about pump failures a day late."
- Week 1: get a real data sample. A month of exports from the existing systems is enough. No integration work yet.
- Weeks 2 to 4: build the first version. Modern rapid-build tools let a small team ship a working app in days, then improve it every week with the people who will use it.
- Weeks 4 to 6: run it on site. Put it in front of the shift team, watch where they get stuck, and fix it while they are still using it.
- Week 6: decide. Compare against the measure from step 1. If it works, plan the real integration and security review. If not, you have lost weeks, not years.
This matches how New Energy Tech is described: real problems from operators, local prototypes, then deployment for the ones that prove themselves.
How LeptisCode can help
LeptisCode is a software consultancy based in Tripoli and Dublin. We build bilingual Arabic and English tools, and we are certified on Lovable's Expert partner track, which lets us move from idea to working app quickly.
If you are an operator with a field problem, or a team preparing a New Energy Tech entry, we can help you scope it, build the prototype, and get it in front of real users. Get in touch.
Sources
- Libya Links Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Connectivity to its Next Production Cycle, Energy Capital & Power press release, 21 October 2026