Oil exports at major Libyan ports were halted on Monday and production curtailed across the country, six engineers told Reuters, amid a standoff between rival political factions over control of the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) and oil revenue. According to Reuters, some oil production was being increased to feed local power generation.
Exports remained halted at the ports of Es Sidra, Ras Lanouf, Hariga, Zueitina, Brega and Sirte, engineers there told Reuters.
Libya’s oil production has plummeted by more than half from typical levels since the standoff began last month, when western factions moved to oust veteran CBL Governor Al-Siddiq Al-Kabir and replace him with a rival board, which has been in office for a week. In response, eastern factions called for a shut down to all oil production.
Arabian Gulf Oil Company (AGOCO), a subsidiary of the state-owned National Oil Corporation (NOC), ordered production to be boosted at its fields to feed a power plant at Hariga port, engineers have told Reuters. AGOCO, which controls the Sarir, Nafoura and Messla fields, was producing 139,000 barrels per day (bpd) on August 28, down from 290,000 bpd on July 20, NOC said last week.
NOC said on Thursday that total production had plunged to just over 591,000 bpd by Aug. 28 from nearly 959,000 bpd on Aug. 26, amounting to losses of over $120 million over the three days. Production was at about 1.28 million bpd on July 20, NOC said. Libya’s average production in July was 1.18 million bpd, according to OPEC, citing secondary sources.
