Oil production triples as Libya restarts production

Crude oil production in Libya jumped nearly threefold from below 100,000 barrels per day last week to around 250,000 bpd – a week after the blockade on the country’s oil ports was lifted, the National Oil Corporation (NOC) announced.

Last week, the (NOC) announced a partial lifting of force majeure and workers at Libya’s major Sharara field restarted operations, Reuters reported two engineers working there saying.

Oil production plunged by around three-quarters since Haftar launched a blockade, which cut off revenue for state institutions operating across the country.

On 12 August, the NOC revealed in a statement that the total losses incurred due to the shutdown of oil fields and ports reached $8.22 million, after 208 days of forceful shutdown by Haftar’s militia.

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Libya’s oil production before the shutdown reached 1.22 million barrels a day, according to identical data released by the NOC and the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), compared to less than 90,000 barrels per day during the blockade.

Libya has been witnessing an armed conflict for years, as Haftar’s militias, supported by Arab and Western countries, contest the internationally-recognised government’s legitimacy and authority in the oil-rich country.

Libya has the largest oil reserves in Africa and the ninth-biggest known reserves in the world.