Beijing’s PetroChina Signs Deal to Purchase Libyan Oil

China’s largest oil and gas producer and distributor, PetroChina has signed up with the Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC) to buy Libyan oil, few months after Shell and British Petroleum (BP) signed similar deals.

The deal is the first ever since 2013, Bloomberg reports.

The deal comes as oil production knows a revival following several years of chaos that ensued the death of former leader Muammar Gaddafi, killed in a NATO-backed revolution in 2011.

Oil outflow moved up to 1.19 million barrels a day last month, Bloomberg reports. Oil production was put at 969,000 barrels per day in January.

The US-based media has been tracking tankers from the country since July 2014.

The annual contract with PetroChina, one of the companies with the biggest sales revenue in China, and one of the largest oil companies in the world, followed similar deals signed in January by BP and Shell.

The return of these oil giants implies trust in Libya that has been dogged by security and political domestic fighting between rivals.