(Bloomberg) -- Libya’s crude exports continued to slump as UN-led talks failed to break an impasse over control of the country’s central bank that has spilled over into its oil industry.
Exports slumped to a rate of roughly one cargo being shipped every two to three days over the last week, compared with a tanker every day or two at the start of the month, according to Bloomberg tanker tracking.
Libya exported 314,000 barrels a day over the past week, down from 468,000 barrels of a crude a day during the first five days of the month, tanker tracking data show. During the later period, just three tankers loaded across the nation’s ports compared with four at the start of the month. One vessel appears to be loading crude at the offshore Farwah terminal and could depart today.
The UN said Thursday that rival Libyan groups didn’t reach an agreement over the central bank standoff after holding talks on Thursday and gave no update as to when further talks could resume.
The two sides have been at loggerheads since Libya’s prime minister in August moved to replace the central bank governor, manager of billions of dollars in oil wealth. Authorities in the east, where much of Libya’s oil is located, rejected the move and ordered a shutdown of all crude production and exports. Before then, shipments had been holding above 1 million barrels a day for months.
The disruption hasn’t been enough to buoy a market in which there’s concern that slumping Chinese demand will lead to building stockpiles into next year. Brent crude slumped below $70 a barrel earlier this week, hitting the lowest since Dec. 2022, and is trading at about $72 a barrel now.
Meanwhile, limited amounts of crude continue to flow into storage at Libya’s ports, meaning it can take several days to accumulate the 600,000 to 1 million barrels generally needed to load a tanker.
Daily oil output in the nation that’s home to Africa’s largest reserves has fallen to about 450,000 barrels from more than 1 million before the crisis, although exports have continued to trickle out to global markets.
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