Libya Oil Output Rebounds to 1.3 Million Bpd

Crude oil production has recovered to 1.3 million barrels daily, the National Oil Corporation has reported, following the resolution of a political dispute over the appointment of a new governor to the Libyan central bank.

“Efforts are still ongoing to increase production levels,” NOC also said.

Crude production at most Libyan oilfields was suspended for over a month, starting in late August, after the country’s eastern and western administrations clashed over who should be governor of the Central Bank of Libya.

The central bank is where revenues from oil exports end up, so both the Government of National Unity recognized by the West and the rival administration in eastern Libya wanted an ally at the helm.

The Benghazi-based government in eastern Libya, which is a rival to the Tripoli-based government in the politically divided North African OPEC producer, said it would shut down all oil production if the Tripoli government appoints its own head of the central bank.

The “force majeure” on Libyan oil production will apply to all oilfields, oil facilities, and export terminals, the eastern government said. That government is affiliated with the Lybian National Army group led by Khalifa Haftar, which controls most of Libya’s oil fields and export terminals.

At the end of September, the rival factions reached an agreement in UN-mediated talks over the election of the central bank’s leadership, paving the way to restoring oil production and exports.

Full-scale production resumed in early October, growing gradually first to 1 million bpd, then 1.2 million bpd, and now to the pre-dispute level of 1.3 million barrels daily, with the country’s largest field, El Sharara, pumping at a rate of some 240,000 barrels daily.

Still, Libya’s oil fields and export terminals remain vulnerable to blockades and shutdowns as political factions use them as pressure points in various disputes over the running of the country.