Cash-strapped Libya must sit out OPEC cuts says NOC’s Sanalla

By Libya Herald reporters.

Tunis, 27 November 2016:

Libya’s economic woes mean that it cannot afford to be part of OPEC production cutbacks, National Oil Corporation boss Mustafa Sanalla has warned. It would have to opt out of any cuts for the foreseeable future.

Sanalla told the Austrian-Arab Forum in Vienna that Libya’s oil output had doubled since September’s lifting of force majeure on the Oil Crescent export terminals. He added that he hoped the enforced closure of the country’s ports and oil fields for political purposes was now a thing of the past.

Sanalla said that the unrestricted flow of oil brought badly-needed income that benefited the whole country. “The real test is whether we can get out of the current political crisis and maintain a continuing flow of oil production. “

OPEC members are due to meet in Vienna on Wednesday to agree cuts in their output. In Algiers last month, there seemed to be a consensus that Libya could be excluded from any output reductions.

Today NOC executives have been meeting in Tripoli to finalise NOC’s plans for next year. Operational managers have set out their plans to restore and repair equipment and the options to boost production up to and beyond Sanalla’s year-end target of 900,000 barrels a day.

However, with the continued Zintani blockade of the pipelines at Rayayina cutting at least 125,000 barrels a day output from the Sharara and El Fil (Elephant) fields, that figure is unlikely to be hit.