Libyan crude exports may increase by at least 180,000 barrels a day this month after rebels seeking self-rule in the eastern region of Cyrenaica agreed to surrender two of the four oil ports under their control to the government.
The self-declared Executive Office for Barqa, the rebel name for Cyrenaica, will hand over the crude export terminals of Zueitina and Hariga “immediately” and the two others, Es Sider and Ras Lanuf, in two to four weeks, according to an accord announced on Sunday by Justice Minister Salah Al-Mirghani in a televized press conference in Zueitina.
Hariga has daily capacity of 110,000 barrels, while Zueitina can handle 70,000 barrels, according to consultants IHS. Es Sider is the nation’s largest oil terminal, with a daily loading capacity of 340,000 barrels. Ras Lanuf has a capacity of 220,000 barrels.
“The agreement provides for re-opening the oil ports in two stages,” Al-Mirghani said. “The ports of Zueitina and Hariga will be handed over to the state with the signing of this agreement; the protesters are banned from returning or obstructing work at the ports.”
The ports are in “very good shape” and should be able to operate in a week, Al-Hasy said. Exports from Zueitina and Hariga are likely to resume as soon as pipelines are inspected, Al-Sharif Al-Wafi, a lawmaker who brokered the agreement, told reporters.
The Barqa federalists, led by Ibrahim Al-Jedran, a former commander in the Petroleum Facilities Guard, took control of four of Libya’s nine oil ports in July. His group failed in an attempt to export crude last month after the US Navy captured a tanker that loaded at Es Sider and turned it over to the government.
With Africa’s largest oil reserves, Libya’s oil production slumped by more than 1million barrels a day in the past year as protests halted oil fields and ports.
The North African nation, a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), last month produced at a daily rate of 250,000 barrels, compared with 1.6million barrels before the rebellion that ousted Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.
It produced at a rate of 150,000 barrels a day last week amid shutdowns at fields in the western part of the country.
Brent for May settlement fell as much as 94 cents, or 0.9%, to $105.78 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange on Monday in the first day of trading after the announcement. The volume of all futures traded was 24% more than the 100-day average.