The National Oil Corporation in Libya said on Thursday that it is close to restoring production levels to what they were before the Central Bank of Libya crisis, as it reached about one million and 220 thousand barrels per day today.
The Libyan government, based in the east of the country, and the National Oil Corporation, based in Tripoli, announced last week the reopening of all oil fields and export ports after resolving a dispute related to the governor of the Central Bank of Libya.
The corporation stated that oil and condensate production levels rose to 1,217,000 barrels per day today, Thursday, from 1,158,000 barrels per day yesterday, Wednesday.
The corporation says that Libya was producing about 1.3 million barrels of crude per day before production stopped in the Sharara, El Feel and Sidra fields in late August and early September.
The resumption of Libyan production comes at a time when the crude market is suffering from fears of a deteriorating situation in the Middle East due to the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, and the aggravation of the crisis had raised crude prices to high levels last week.
The return of Libyan oil production to near its previous levels increases supply, which reduces the rise in crude prices. Crude prices also rose due to Hurricane Milton, which swept through the US state of Florida.
Earlier in Thursday’s trading, by 1:30 GMT, Brent crude futures rose $1.2, or 1.6%, to $77.78 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures increased $1.16, or 1.6%, to $74.40 per barrel.
The United States, the largest oil producing and consuming country in the world, is being hit by Hurricane Milton, which swept through the state of Florida, where supplies ran out at about a quarter of gas stations, which helped support crude prices.
