Libya Expects Higher Oil Output despite Clashes in Tripoli

Libya’s oil production climbed to the highest since 2013 and can go even higher if security at the nation’s energy facilities can be improved, the chairman of the state-run National Oil Corp told Bloomberg.

The statement comes as the country’s capital has sank in a spiral of violence opposing rival militias.

Output reached recently 1.278 million barrels a day and can be increased by “hundreds of thousands” of barrels a day with improved security, Mustafa Sanalla said.

Continued instability in the country with Africa’s largest oil reserves means the NOC may have to revise its 2022 production target of more than 2 million barrels a day, he said.

Production was at 1.6 million barrels per day before the NATO-backed uprising in which long ruling dictator Muammar Gaddafi was ousted.

A string of security incidents has hobbled Libya’s oil production despite repeated attempts to restore flows in the politically divided nation. Output at the country’s biggest oil field, Sharara, declined in July after an armed group kidnapped four of the staff.