The Libyan Minister of Oil and Gas, Mohamed Aoun welcomed Saudi Arabia’s decision to extend the voluntary reduction of its oil production by one million barrels per day.
In a statement issued on Monday, Aoun hailed the decision as “a positive step for the market balance between global producers and consumers, and also for the global economy in general.”
The Saudi Press Agency (SPA) quoted a source in the Ministry of Energy as saying the decision has gone into implementation in July, to include the month of August that can be extended, and in effect. The Kingdom’s production for August 2023 will be approximately 9 million barrels per day.
The source also noted that this cut is in addition to the voluntary cut previously announced by the Kingdom in April 2023, which extends until the end of December 2024.
The expected extension for August aims to “enhance the precautionary efforts made by the OPEC+ countries, for supporting the stability and balance of oil markets.”
The source also indicated that this reduction is in addition to another voluntary reduction announced by the Kingdom last April, which extends until the end of December 2024.
Last month, Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) announced that crude oil revenues reached $1.57 billion dollars in May 2023, based on the NOC’s accounts at the Libyan Foreign Bank.
In a statement, the NOC said the total revenue from crude oil amounted to $1.572 billion. Meanwhile, revenues from oil products reached $59.862 million, while revenues from gas and condensates recorded $29.862 million, and petrochemicals brought in $615,874.
The Central Bank of Libya (CBL) announced that Libya’s total oil revenues rose to 19.1 billion Libyan dinars, from January to April 2023.
The CBL revealed that the country’s total revenues recorded 31.9 billion dinars, over the last four months. State expenditures amounted to 24.9 billion dinars in 2023. The bank noted that foreign currency exchange revenues over the last four months amounted to $15.05 billion dollars.
In recent months, Libya’s oil sector has stabilised, and production has risen to 1.2 million barrels per day. The Minister of Oil and Gas, Mohamed Aoun expressed his hopes that “oil production will return to 2010 levels within two or three years.”
In the fourth quarter of 2022, a report by the International Monetary Fund stated that Libya will be the fastest-growing Arab economy in 2023. It is set to have a growth rate of 17.9%, compared to 3.9% for Arab states.