On Tuesday, Libyan Minister of Oil and Gas, Mohamed Aoun received the Secretary General of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Haitham Faisal Al-Ghais.
The media office of the Libyan Ministry stated that the two sides “will discuss all issues related to the oil and gas sector, given that Libya is one of the most important partners within the organization.”
Last month, Aoun participated in the 13th symposium that brought together OPEC and the World Energy in Riyadh.
Notably, Libya saw its output drop below that of Angola last month, two months after losing its status as Africa’s largest crude oil producer to Nigeria, according to OPEC.
OPEC’s latest monthly oil market report showed that Nigeria produced the most oil on the continent in February, at 1.336 million barrels per day (bpd). This is followed by Angola with 1.155 million bpd, and Libya with 1.14 million bpd, according to secondary sources.
According to OPEC’s latest monthly oil market report for January, Libyan crude oil production declined by 10,000 barrels.
The report noted that Nigeia’s crude oil production rose by 65,000 barrels, meanwhile Angola’s oil production also increased by 47,000 barrels.
The total crude production by the 13 member states decreased to 28.876 million bpd in January, compared to 28.926 million bpd in December.
The decline comes as part of the OPEC + agreement to reduce supplies by 100,000 bpd in November. It also announced a new policy, early last month, aimed at reducing oil production by two million bpd from the beginning of November 2022, until December 2023.
In September, the National Oil Corporation (NOC) Chairman, Farhat Bengdara, said that the corporation plans to raise oil production rates to 2 million bpd.
“This will be achieved in accordance with a three to five-year medium-term plan, to increase crude oil production rates to two million bpd within available capabilities,” he added.
Bengadra stressed that “the current capabilities, in terms of reservoirs and reserves, will help to reach these rates,” explaining that Libya’s crude oil production has surpassed 1.2 million bpd. He added that increasing oil production has been the main goal of the board since taking office.