Libyan strongman's forces lose control of key oil export terminal - FRANCE24

2017-March-04

The forces of eastern Libya's military strongman Khalifa Haftar have lost control of a key oil export terminal they had seized last year, a spokesman conceded on Saturday.

Colonel Ahmad al-Mismari said that the rival forces had overrun the main airfield in the oil port of Ras Lanuf and identified them as Islamists of the Benghazi Defence Brigades.

An array of forces, most of them loyal to the UN-backed government in Tripoli, have been involved in efforts to oust Haftar from the oil ports, whose seizure enabled him to pose a major challenge to its authority.

But the Tripoli government on Friday evening denied any involvement in the renewed offensive on the oil ports, condemning it as a "military escalation".

The forces involved in the latest assault are a mixture of Islamist militias, eastern tribes opposed to Haftar and members of the Petroleum Facilities Guard which controlled the ports before Haftar's takeover.

Libya's oil production reaches 685,000 bpd - NOC - ECOFIN AGENCY

Monday, 02 January 2017 - 13:39
Anita Fatunji

Libya’s oil production during the weekend reached 685,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) up from around 600,000 a day last month, an official from the National Oil Corporation (NOC) revealed.

The country’s output increased following the lifting of the two-year blockade on key pipelines leading from the western fields of Sharara and El Feel.

The NOC official said output has been rising steadily from the Sharara field, which has a capacity of 330,000 bpd but did not provide any details concerning operations at El Feel, which has the capacity to produce 90,000 bpd.

Western pipeline block ends, one million bpd output in sight - LIBYA HERALD

Tripoli, 14 December 2016
By Libya Herald reporters

Libyan oil output could approach a million barrels a day if the blockade of a key western pipeline is lifted as reported today.

Protestors, who in 2014 closed the pipelines at Riyayna which run from the Sharara and El-Fil (Elephant) oilfields to the coast, have announced they will reopen the taps tomorrow.

Potentially this could deliver some 365,000 barrels per day of extra production. When added to the existing 600,000 bpd, year-end output could exceed the 800,000 bpd target set by National Oil Corporation chief Mustafa Sanalla in October.

However even if the Petroleum Facilities Guard unit that has mounted the blockade honours its promise, it will not in fact simply be a matter of turning on a tap. Pipeline maintenance and restoring production at oil fields shut in for more two years will not be an overnight operation.

The statement announcing the blockade’s end said “The National Oil Corporation should start its work as soon as possible and we, as the Petroleum Facilities Guard, pledge to protect and defend the wealth of the Libyan state”.

Libya: OPEC gives go ahead to double oil production - ECOFIN AGENCY

Thursday, 17 November 2016 - 09:14Anita Fatunji

(Ecofin Agency) - The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has given Libya the green light to increase its crude oil export regardless of a deal being set up to cut production to manage the oversupply of crude oil and bolster prices.

According to the chairman of the National Oil Corporation (NOC), Mustafa Sanalla, Libya’s production currently stands at 600,000 barrels of oil per day and has Africa’s largest crude oil reserves.

He added that the goal is to increase oil production to 900,000 barrels per day by the end of this year and target 1.1 million barrels of oil per day in 2017.

Sanalla said Libya is heading toward economic revival but ongoing clashes still put oil facilities at risk of being attacked again.

Al-Nadhouri: We’ll put Libyan oil under Egypt’s control - LIBYAPROSPECT

Oct 16, 2016, Al-Youm7, LIBYAPROSPECT – London

The Libyan military chief of staff affiliated to the House of Representatives (HoR), General Abdul-Razek Al-Nadhouri, said that the head of the eastern Libyan National Oil Corporation would be in Cairo on Saturday.

During his visit to Cairo, Al-Nadhouri told the Egyptian newspaper “Al-Youm 7”, who interviewed him, which LIBYAPROSPECT is translating for its readers, that the Libyan oil will be under Egypt’s control. He added that there would be daily shipments of Libyan oil to Egypt and “we will listen to the Egyptians and will send them the oil implements.”

Al-Nadhouri said that this might be seen as a subordination and surrender but “if this how our enemies think, so we are proud of surrendering ourselves to Egypt.”

He also expressed that “if the world says that Egypt is the mother of the world, we say that “Egypt is our mother” because she supported us when no one supported us.

Libya’s oil production set to reach three-year high by December - WORLD OIL

By NAYLA RAZZOUK on 10/12/2016

ISTANBUL (Bloomberg) -- Libya’s oil production is set to reach a three-year high by December, as fields restart and ports reopen after five years of armed conflict crippled sales.

Output is now 540,000 bopd and will reach 900,000 bopd by the end of the year, Libya’s National Oil Corp. Chairman Mustafa Sanalla said Wednesday in Istanbul. That would be the highest production since June 2013, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Libya, with Africa’s largest crude reserves, has increased oil output after the NOC reached an agreement last month with Khalifa Haftar, commander of the armed forces controlling key oil ports. Shipments were able to resume from ports including Ras Lanuf, Es Sider and Zueitana, leading Germany’s Wintershall AG to resume output in As Sarah oil field on Sept. 16.

Libya Ramps Up Crude Exports as Ports Reopen for First Time Since 2014 - GCAPTAIN / BLOOMBERG

Crude Oil Tanker 'Syra' (600.000 bbl capacity)

September 20, 2016 by Bloomberg

By Saleh Sarrar and Hatem Mohareb

(Bloomberg) — Libya boosted crude production by more than 70 percent since August as some oil fields resumed output and export terminals in the OPEC country reopened for their first overseas loadings in two years.

The North African nation’s crude output rose to 450,000 barrels a day after work resumed at some oil fields, Ibrahim Al-Awami, head of oil measurement department at state-run National Oil Corp., said by phone on Tuesday. Armed conflicts and political disputes have hobbled the country’s production, which slid to 260,000 barrels a day last month, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Libyan Unity Prime Minister Visits Egypt After Oil Exports Resume - VoA

September 16, 2016 7:52 PM
Edward Yeranian

CAIRO — Libya has resumed oil exports for the first time since military forces under the command of army General Khalifa Haftar, loyal to the parliament in Tobruk, recaptured oil installations west of Benghazi this past week.

Meanwhile, Fayez Saraj, who heads Libya’s U.N.-brokered national unity government, met in Cairo with the head of the Tobruk-based parliament, Aquelah Saleh, according to Arab and Egyptian media. The men reportedly have been trying to cobble together an agreement on a new government acceptable to rival political factions.

Parliament Speaker Saleh has repeatedly insisted on the need for a limited-size government acceptable to all parties. The Tobruk parliament refused to approve a unity government, composed of 30 ministers, earlier this year.

Reopening Libya oil ports is newly unified NOC’s ‘top’ priority - WORLD OIL

By SALMA EL WARDANY on 7/11/2016

TRIPOLI (Bloomberg) -- Libya’s state crude producer is seeking to reopen oil ports and restore crude output as the fractured OPEC nation struggles to reunite after five years of civil strife, according to its chairman.

Four ports accounting for about 860,000 bpd in crude exporting capacity have been shut due to political turmoil and fighting. Libya now produces a fraction of the 1.6 MMbopd that it pumped before the toppling of ruler Moammar Al Qaddafi in 2011. A July 2 deal uniting the National Oil Corp.’s rival administrations enables the company to focus on reviving Libya’s crippled oil industry, Chairman Sanalla Ibrahim said.