Despite the recovery in Libyan oil production over the course of 2017, Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) been able to raise funds to cover 25 percent of the its budget, according to a recent announcement by NOC Chairman Mustafa Sanalla.
A previous goal to raise Libyan output to 1.25 million barrels per day by the end of the year will be "very difficult" to achieve, he said, given the financial shortfall that doesn't leave much room for operational expenses.
"Our colleagues in OPEC and non-OPEC understand the situation, there's uncertainty in Libya ... We were very frank and we gave reports," the oil leader added. "We lost in one day 90,000 bpd because of lack of money."
Attacks at the Es Sider and Ras Lanuf ports have left 12 of 19 storage tankers out of service since last year. There just aren't enough funds to repair the facilities.
Sanalla estimated that Libya has lost $126 billion in revenue over the past five years due to blockades, attacks and general instability since the demise of dictator Muammar Ghaddafi.
Sanalla met with a group of Libyan and international oil experts in London this week to discuss strategies to safeguard the nation's oil facilities from domestic turmoil. Participants drafted guidelines for the government's interactions with the NOC, which stated that Libya should make timely payments to its state oil company to ensure it remains solvent.
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"The purpose is to protect Libya's oil," he said. "Libya without oil cannot be stabilized. Libya without oil cannot prosper."
After a brief respite in August, OPEC's oil production rose once again in September, to 32.75 million bpd, up 88,500 bpd from the previous month, the cartel reported in its latest Monthly Oil Market Report. Libya led the September increase, with a 53,900-bpd monthly rise in its crude oil production, to 923,000 bpd.
By Zainab Calcuttawala for Oilprice.com
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Zainab Calcuttawala is an American journalist based in Morocco. She completed her undergraduate coursework at the University of Texas at Austin (Hook’em) and reports on… More