Mohamed Aoun, oil minister in Libya’s government of national unity, confirmed that the country was able to bring daily oil production back to the level it was before the “forced closure” of a number of major oil facilities in April.
“Libya’s daily crude oil production has reached 1.2 million barrels,” Aoun told AFP on Sunday without giving details.
Once these levels are reached, oil production will reach pre-force majeure levels, according to the Libyan National Oil Corporation.
The closure of the oil facilities caused losses of more than three billion dollars after the NOC declared a “force majeure” condition at the time, which gives it protection due to its inability to fulfill supplies exported abroad.
Libya is facing a major crisis over declining oil production after local and tribal groups closed six oil fields and ports last April in the country’s east, in an area controlled by forces loyal to Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar.
The protesters said the closure was due to objection to Abdel Hamid Dabaiba’s continued tenure as government president in Tripoli and his failure to hand over power to a new government appointed by the House of Representatives.
After Dabaiba sacked Mustafa Sanalla, the former head of the Libyan Oil Corporation, in mid-July and named Farhat bin Kadara, a former Gaddafi-era central banker and close to Field Marshal Haftar, as his successor, the oil facilities were reopened and “force majeure was withdrawn to end the oil shutdown crisis.
Source: AFP.