The Libyan National Oil Company (NOC) is poised to resume crude oil export with a cargo of one million barrels, after more than eight months of interruption due to the blockade of the main oil terminals in the eastern part of the country.
An Italian oil tanker docked Tuesday night at the oil port of al- Harriga to load a cargo of one million barrels of crude oil, Salah al-Manfi, Acting Director of the Arabian Golf Oil Company (AGOCO), a subsidiary of the NOC, announced Wednesday.
The development followed the lifting of the blockade of oil terminals a few days earlier, Mr al- Manfi said in a statement published on the AGOCO website.
The resumption of oil export comes less than a week after the decision of the NOC to lift the force majeure on the oil port of al- Harriga, after it came under the control of the state, as well as the port of Zueitina, after an agreement with the armed groups that controlled it since July 2013.
Oil terminals in Zueitina and al-Harriga, controlled for several months by armed groups in conflict with government, were reopened on 6 April after an agreement.
The lifting of the blockade of the other two ports, al-Sedera and Ras Lanuf, is expected in two weeks.
The new lease of life at the oil terminals will raise Libya’s oil export to 1.5 million b/d.
