On Saturday, Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) announced that it aims to increase oil production to 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) in two weeks.
“The NOC is striving to increase production and bring it back to its normal rates of 1.2 million bpd in two weeks,” the NOC said in a statement.
Current oil production is at 860,000 bpd, compared with 560,000 bpd before resuming production, the NOC added.
Libya’s crude oil production had resumed at several oilfields, after lifting force majeure on oil exports last week.
The Libyan Oil Ministry said earlier that production is at more than 800,000 bpd and will reach 1.2 million bpd by next month.
The country’s oil exports at times last year reached 1.2 million bpd.
The return of a portion of Libya’s oil production comes at a critical time for the oil markets—and at a time when the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is failing to reach its production targets while the West prods the group to turn on the taps. The instability in Libya has caused the country’s crude oil production to fall to just 629,000 bpd as of June—the latest data available from OPEC, from the more than million barrels per day on average that Libya produced last year.
Last week, Libya began loading oil for export after the force majeure was lifted following the battle for control of the NOC.
As of June 30th, Libya was exporting between 365,000 bpd and 409,000 bpd—down from 865,000 bpd before the force majeure was declared in April, according to the NOC’s data cited by S&P Platts.
Earlier this month, the new NOC’s Chairman Mustafa bin Qadara, who replaced Mustafa Sanalla, announced the lifting of major force, pledging that oil production will return to previous rates before the closure within a week.
Libya’s oil sector has been under severe political turmoil for months, exacerbating a tight market, with various groups seeking control of the NOC and its revenues.
Prior to Sanalla’s ouster, the NOC said on June 30th that Libyan crude exports had ranged from 365,000 bpd to 409,000 bpd, a decrease of as much as 865,000 bpd from normal rates, as it declared force majeure on loadings out of Es Sider and Ras Lanuf terminals, as well as production at the El-Feel oil field, following the previous closures of the Brega and Zueitina terminals.