The head of Libya's National Oil Corporation said on Wednesday that around 40 companies had shown interest in participating in the North African country's current round of bidding for oil exploration rights.

Libya is offering 22 areas for oil exploration and development in its first such bidding round in more than 17 years as it experienced a prolonged period of armed conflict and political turmoil.

"Libya is a very stable country nowadays," Masoud Suleiman told the ADIPEC energy conference in Abu Dhabi. "Our doors are wide open for investors."

The new bidding round, announced on March 3, comes as Africa's second-largest oil producer, a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, seeks to raise its oil output.

Suleiman added that Libya's current production is around 1.4 million barrels per day.

(Reporting by Yousef Saba, Jana Choukeir and Sara Elsafty; Writing by Ahmed Elimam; Editing by Joe Bavier)