After the announced end of the oil blockade by General Chalifa Haftar in Libya, the state oil company NOC is cautiously starting production there again. In a first step, engineers would return to safe havens and facilities, the NOC announced yesterday evening.
Preparations for the export, which is initially planned at the two ports of Briga and Harika, would be underway. Starting tomorrow, tankers would pick up and ship the available crude oil from these ports.
Last week, Haftar announced the end of a month-long oil blockade. His supporters had started a blockade of facilities under their control in January in order to put pressure on the government in Tripoli. As a result, the desert state, whose economy depends on the oil business, lost revenues of up to ten billion dollars (around 8.5 billion euros).
According to an international agreement, Libya’s oil exports can only go through the NOC, which is based in Tripoli. The income goes to the local central bank.
NOC plans to produce 260,000 barrels a day soon
According to NOC figures, production should reach around 260,000 barrels per day over the next week. Before the blockade began, Libya had produced around four times as much. „Our main concern at the start of production and export is the safety of workers and the company,“ said NOC boss Mustafa Sanalla according to a message on Facebook. Any efforts to use the state oil sector for political purposes should be stopped.
Civil war chaos has raged in Libya since the overthrow of long-term ruler Muammar al-Gaddafi in 2011. Numerous militias are fighting for power there. The troops of the internationally recognized government based in Tripoli, with Turkish support, had repulsed an offensive by Haftar’s supporters on the capital.
