Libya’s oil output has risen to 270,000 barrels per day (bpd) as the OPEC member ramps up exports following the easing of a blockade by eastern forces, a Libyan oil source told Reuters.
The country’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) had said it expected production to rebound to 260,000 bpd this week.
The blockade, which began in January, slashed Libya’s oil production from around 1.2 million bpd to around 100,000 bpd.
News of the pick up weighed on oil prices, as the market reels from a bleak demand outlook amid rising coronavirus cases.
Export activity at three oil terminals - Hariga, Zueitina and Brega - is rising.
Brega is expected to export three 600,000 barrel cargoes in October, according to a loading programme seen by Reuters.
At Zueitina, three tankers are expected to load Bu Attifel crude over the next ten days for Austrian oil firm OMV , Spanish refiner Repsol, and Italian refiner Saras, according to a local shipping agent.
Shell’s provisional booking of the Amoureux tanker to load at the port has been cancelled, however, shipping data showed.
At Hariga, Unipec, the trading arm of China’s Sinpoec , has already loaded 2 million barrels of Mesla and Sarir crude on board the Delta Hellas and the Marlin Shikoku tankers.
Both tankers are broadcasting Singapore as their destination, according to Refinitiv data.
A loading of a naphtha tanker at the port will allow NOC subsidiary AGOCO to bring the 20,000 bpd Tobruk oil refinery to full capacity, it said on Wednesday.
Exports at Libya’s Es Sider and Ras Lanuf oil terminals are yet to resume.
NOC had said it would only resume exports from ports where militants had vacated their positions. The Minerva Eleonora oil tanker has been docked at Es Sider since Sept. 10, according to Refinitiv data.
When the port resumes operations, it is expected to be the first to load a cargo for U.S. firm Hess, one of the shareholders in Libya’s Waha oil company, traders and ship agents said.
