Libya’s Oil Production Rebounds To Top 1.2 Million Bpd

Libya’s oil production is now at 1.211 million barrels per day (bpd), according to the country’s National Oil Corporation (NOC)—a level last seen before the port blockades that began this spring.

Libya’s oil production has been recovering ever since the blockade was lifted in the middle of July. Production was over 1.2 million bpd on Sunday, NOC said in a statement carried by Reuters.

Higher supply from Libya will ease upward pressures on oil prices, which have been falling in recent days amid fears of recession and expectations that a nuclear deal with Iran could be reached. If an agreement is struck, this would pave the way to 1 million bpd of oil from the Islamic Republic returning to the market.

Libya’s oil production has recovered in recent weeks after the country resumed oil exports last month. The first tankers arrived in Libya to load oil for export in mid-July, ending a force majeure on key oilfields and ports that had been in place since April.

The force majeure severely crippled Libya’s oil exports, following weeks of protests and closures amid the new rift in Libya’s political class over who should be governing the country.  

The most recent rivalry is between Fathi Bashaga, the Prime Minister appointed by Parliament earlier this year, and Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, who was appointed last year through a process backed by the United Nations. Dbeibah refuses to cede power. Bashaga, backed by the east-based Parliament, is now based in Sirte in the east of Libya, while Dbeibah is based in Tripoli.

NOC also got a new chief after Farhat Bengdara was appointed by Dbeibah last week to replace the long-term chairman of the state-oil firm, Mustafa Sanalla.

The National Oil Corporation said in mid-July that it planned to see oil output rates recover to 1.2 million bpd in less than a month.  

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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