……..From current 860,000bpd
Libya has said that its crude output, from the current 860,000bpd, will reach 1.2Mbpd within two weeks after production resumed at several of its oilfields this week.
The Libya state owned National Oil Corporation (NOC) confirmed that the country’s output stood at 560,000mbpd as at June 11 this year, before it resumed production. This is in line with the oil ministry’s earlier declaration that output is at more than 800,000bpd and is projected to hit the “normal” 1.2mbpd rate by August.
The 1.2mbpd figure was the average output in 2021, which was a significant recovery from 400,000bpd in 2020, according to World Bank estimates. “National Oil Corporation and its companies achieved a relative increase in oil production, with current production reaching 860,000bpd, while the pre-reopening production rate was 560,000bpd,” the NOC said.
“NOC is striving to increase production and bring it back to its normal rates of 1.2mbpd in two weeks.”
Libya has Africa’s largest oil reserves and hydrocarbons, which account for 95% of government revenues, making control of the industry a key point of contention between its rival governments.
Armed factions have also sought to control production and exports, in some cases attacking oil infrastructure, devastating Libya’s economy.
Libya’s economic recovery, however, is gathering momentum, boosted by a large increase in hydrocarbon output in 2021, according to the African Development Bank. The economy is expected to expand by 3.5% this year and 4.4% in 2023, but this will depend on the stabilisation of its political situation, security improvements and persistence of oil production, AfDB stated.
But rising prices, chronic power cuts and political deadlock have angered Libyans, who have taken to the capital Tripoli’s streets to protest. Libya on July 1 shut down two of the country’s biggest export terminals and an oilfield amid political turmoil in the country, with NOC declaring a state of force majeure.
The affected oil assets were Asidra and Ras Lanuf terminals, and the El-Feel field, which is also known as the Elephant field. Their closures resulted in billions of losses to its economy.
Before that, earlier shutdowns at two other terminals, Brega and Zueitina, brought total economic losses to about 16 billion Libyan dinars ($3.31bn), NOC said at the time. The Central Bank of Libya had put the figure at about $3.5billion.
The country’s oil industry was thrown into further chaos last week when one of the country’s two rival governments dismissed NOC head, Mustafa Sanalla, even sending troops to occupy the company’s headquarters.
The armed units forced their way into NOC’s Tripoli offices when Mr. Sanalla refused to leave. Farhat Bengdara, Mr. Sanalla’s replacement as NOC chairman, rejected challenges to his appointment on Tuesday as work at some shuttered fields and ports resumed.
This week, the new chairman of NOC announced that oil production and exports resumed at all its blockaded oilfields and ports, after he met tribal leaders, who represent the groups involved in a months-long blockade, in the eastern city of Benghazi. Observers say normalcy in Libya’s oil sector meant the restoration of estimated 850,000bpd of the country’s oil output.
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