Libya's Daily Crude Oil Production Exceeds 1 Million Barrels

On Saturday, the Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC) announced that it managed to raise production rates to 1,036,035 barrels a day.

In a statement posted on Facebook, the NOC head praised the great efforts of all employees of the oil sector in different parts of Libya who managed to accomplish these huge achievements, especially in light of the current difficult circumstances.

The NOC noted that it faces very big financial difficulties and a severe shortage of its budgets which led to the accumulation of debts on the sector’s companies and significant delay in the salaries of workers for its service companies.

The statement asserted that NOC may not be able to maintain the current production levels. It said that these levels may be reduced or totally ceased under the reluctance of some entities that are seeking to hinder the NOC’s efforts to increase production and restore the prosperity of the national economy.

A blockade by the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) halted most Libyan crude output and exports from January until it was lifted in September, but not all fields and ports have resumed operations.

An NOC statement said that foreign forces had left the ports, allowing it to recommence operations.

The United Nations’ acting Libya envoy, Stephanie Williams, said earlier on Friday that she expected operations at the ports of Es Sider and Ras Lanuf, the largest still offline, to resume soon.

Libyan oil output has recovered to about 500,000 bpd since the end of the blockade, far from the 1.6 million bpd it was producing before the country’s civil war.