Following a year of blockades by armed protests, the first shipment of crude oil was loaded aboard an oil tanker and departed Libya’s Ras Lanuf oil terminal on Tuesday evening, Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) said.
As reported by Reuters, the tanker Gemini Sun was chartered by Austrian energy group OMV and was sailing towards Malta on Wednesday.
Rebels seized four out of five Libya’s eastern oil ports, including Ras Lanuf, a year ago, thus considerably cutting the country’s oil export capacities.
The Government has managed to take control of the ports, however technical issues have delayed their return to operation.
According to data provided by NOC, the current national production of oil is around 450,000 barrels per day, however; exports will be doubled this month.
Nevertheless, as explained by the West’s energy watchdog International Energy Agency in its monthly report, “ the Atlantic market is currently so well supplied that incremental Libyan barrels are reportedly having a hard time finding buyers.”
World Maritime News Staff