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Libya’s energy industry reached a milestone over the past week with the reopening of the last of its oil fields and ports following a truce in a years-long civil war.
The OPEC nation’s daily crude output has surged from less than 100,000 barrels in early September to above 700,000 as of Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the matter. The state energy firm National Oil Corp. expects the country to be pumping more than 1 million barrels a day by mid- to late-November.
The industry was shut down in January when supporters of Khalifa Haftar, a Russian-backed commander trying to defeat the United Nations-recognized government of Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, blockaded ports and fields. Its quick revival since the lifting of that blockade last month has taken oil traders by surprise and weighed on prices. Brent crude’s down 3.1% this week to around $40.50 a barrel, extending this year’s coronavirus-triggered slump to 39%.
The NOC’s efforts to increase production got a further boost on Friday when representatives of Haftar and Sarraj agreed to formalize their ceasefire, which has been in place since June. The two sides are set to meet next month in Tunisia to appoint a unity government that will prepare elections.
Here’s the latest on oil:
Sharara field: Libya is set to export at least 5.04 million barrels of crude from its biggest field in November; that equates to 168,000 barrels a day
Tankers Ottoman Nobility and Seagrace are scheduled to load crude from Zawiya port, which is fed by Sharara, by the end of October for Total SE and Vitol Group, respectively
Eight tankers will load around 630,000 barrels each in November from Zawiya
Sharara field reopened on Oct. 11 and has a capacity of roughly 300,000 barrels daily
El Feel field: near Sharara in the southwest, the deposit reopened on Monday and is now pumping at its capacity of 75,000 barrels a day
Es Sider port: Tankers Nissos Serifos and Minerva Eleonora have arrived or are approaching the eastern terminal, which restarted on Friday, to take on 630,000 barrels each
The port, Libya’s biggest for oil, has 3.4 million barrels in storage
Ras Lanuf port: a vessel with a capacity of 1 million barrels was set to arrive on Tuesday, the first tanker to reach the terminal since it reopened Friday