Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) said Thursday it has lifted force majeure at some of the country’s main ports, resuming exports from the Ras Lanuf port for the first time since 2014, Kallanish Energy reports. It would also come just as members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russian Federation are set to meet in Algiers later this month to discuss a possible output freeze to steady world oil markets. “They are secure, and we’ve been in contact with our foreign commercial partners”, he said. For the first time since ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) declared force majeure on Nigeria’s Qua Iboe oil exports in July of this year, the USA oil company is set to offer Qua Iboe crude cargo for October loading.
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Mustafa Sanalla, said Thursday that exports would resume immediately from two of the ports, continue at a third and resume from a forth “as soon as possible”.
Declaring “force majeuere” allows an oil supplier to break a contract because of circumstances beyond its control.
The company also said that it would ramp up production and exports to 950,000 barrels per day before the end of the year. In July, the Petroleum Facilities Guard force that was previously in control of the ports struck a deal with the GNA to reopen Es Sider, Ras Lanuf and Zueitina, which it had always been blockading. Production also reportedly resumed at the Nafoura oilfield, which was shut last November.
Libya has been in turmoil, with rival administrations and militias fighting for control of the oil-rich country since the 2011 revolt that ousted longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi. Officials at Zueitina said it was in good condition, though only about 130 out of 550 workers had returned to their posts.
The United States and other Western nations have called on Hifter’s forces to withdraw from the terminals, saying the Tripoli government is the “sole steward” of Libya’s natural resources.
“The Syrian army. began the staged withdrawal of vehicles and personnel from the Castello Road to ensure the unimpeded delivery of aid to eastern Aleppo”, said Lieutenant-General Vladimir Savchenko, head of the Russian Reconciliation Centre in Syria in remarks broadcast on state television. He is distrusted by many in the west of the country who see him as a new military strongman in the making.
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News agency AFP reports that Winer had told them in a telephone interview that no action would be taken against the oil exports, provided the proceeds went into Libya’s central bank and the GNA supported it.
