Libyan Oil Output Climbs Above 1 Million Barrels a Day

(Bloomberg) -- Libya’s oil production climbed above 1 million barrels a day for the first time in two months, after the resolution of a political standoff in the OPEC nation that had curbed output and exports.

Production reached 1.067 million barrels on Sunday, following the lifting of a blockade by the divided nation’s eastern government on Oct. 3, said two people with knowledge of the situation, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public. Output at the biggest field, Sharara, was rising toward its full capacity while Waha Oil Co. was pumping at half its normal level as a pipeline is being repaired, they said.   

The higher output will add supply to an oil market that’s struggling with soft demand while the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries plans to gradually start easing its production cuts from later this year. But crude prices rose on Monday on traders’ concern that an escalating conflict in the Middle East may disrupt supply. Brent in London has increased 10% in the past week to trade near $79 a barrel.

Libya typically produces more than 1.2 million barrels daily, but that plunged to under 450,000 in August after the country’s United Nations-recognized western government fired the central bank governor, spurring its eastern rival to order an oil shutdown in response. Output has often been held hostage to political wrangling as opposing sides jostle for control of the key sector.

Sharara, the country’s biggest oil field, was pumping 240,000 barrels a day as of Sunday, according to the two people with knowledge of the country’s output levels. Waha Oil Co. was pumping 150,000 barrels a day to Es Sider, the largest export terminal. The repair of a pipeline that transports crude to the port is keeping output from reaching its normal level of 300,000 barrels. 

Output levels of other main grades:

--With assistance from Prejula Prem.

(Updates with production details from fifth paragraph.)

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