Libya’s NOC lifted force majeure on oil exports, but has warned production will be low

Tripoli, July 13 - Neftegaz.RU. Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) announced it has resumed crude exports, ending a months-long blockade that eastern tribes had called to protest revenue distribution in the war-torn country.

The NOC said the resumption of exports from Libya started on a small scale, and would reach just 650,000 barrels a day by 2022 because extensive repairs, costing "billions of dinars," are needed in the facilities following months of neglect.

The corporation also lifted force majeure on all oil exports, promising to fulfill its existing contracts for the 1st time since January. Last week, the tribes offered to end the blockade and negotiate a restart in production as part of a political settlement.

Libya on July 10 shipped 730,000 barrels of crude oil from Es Sider, the country's largest port, to Italy, according to Ali el-Farsi, the spokesman for the Waha Oil Corporation. The tanker was flagged under Liberia.

The company calculates it has lost $6.5 billion from the production blockade. NOC must make considerable investments in order to repair infrastructure. The costs of repairing the pipeline network and surface equipment and of well workovers will run to the billions of dinars.

The NOC said recent high-level negotiations over resource distribution with the Tripoli government - supervised by the U.N. and the U.S. and involving other "regional countries" - had helped restart exports.

“We are very glad finally to be able to take this important step to national recovery, and I wish to thank all the parties to recent discussions for helping to bring about this successful outcome,” NOC´s CEO Mustafa Sanalla said.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has said Libya may have increased production to around 1 million bpd by the end of the year.