Libya’s oil production in last January highest in five years, report

BY Libyan Express Feb 11, 2018 - 13:15

Oil pipelines at the port of Ras Lanuf. [Photo: Reuters]

Libya’s oil production averaged more than 1 million bpd in January, for the first time topping the million-bpd-mark for a full month since July 2013, data provider Genscape has estimated.

Last month Libya produced 1.083 million bpd of crude oil, and 1.133 million of total liquids, Genscape said, adding that its oil production monitoring showed that oil fields in Libya appeared to operate relatively consistently in January, without steep, significant dips below the average production levels due to weather or pipeline attacks.

The years-long civil strife crippled most of Libya’s oil production, which slumped well below the 1.6-million-bpd the country was pumping before the 2011 uprising. Libya, as well as Nigeria, won an exemption from the initial production cut deal that OPEC and a dozen non-OPEC producers forged at the end of 2016.

After the main fields and oil export terminals in Libya re-opened in 2017, production started to increase, and together with Nigeria’s recovering oil production and U.S. shale resurgence, was offsetting part of the OPEC cuts and depressed oil prices for much of 2017. Libya’s production topped 1 million bpd in July 2017, but the country has struggled to maintain that level consistently for a month.

When OPEC met to extend the production cuts in November 2017, Libya and Nigeria agreed to cap their respective 2018 oil production at a combined level of 2.8 million bpd, as part of their contribution to the pact.

In December, Libya’s oil production averaged 962,000 bpd, according to the latest available figures by OPEC’s secondary sources. Production for January is due out in the OPEC monthly report next Monday, February 12.

The monthly survey of S&P Global Platts—one of OPEC’s secondary sources—showed this week that Libya’s oil production averaged 980,000 bpd in January, flat compared to December. Libya and Nigeria together exceeded their combined 2.8-million-bpd cap under the OPEC deal, the survey showed.

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