Libyan oil output tops 800,000 bpd as Wintershall dispute holding back

Libya’s oil production is running at above 800,000 barrels per day pbd for the first time since 2014, the National Oil Corporation NOC said on Wednesday.

However, a commercial dispute with German oil firm wintershall has shut in a further 160,000 barrel per day.

The NOC said Libya’s output could reach between 1.1 million and 1.2 million bpd if political obstacles were removed.

NOC Chairman Mustafa Sanalla said a national effort is required for them to be able to produce an average of 1.1 million to 1.2 million (bpd) over the rest of this year.

Libya’s output remains well below the 1.6 million bpd it was producing before a 2011 uprising.

Armed conflict, political disputes and local blockades have made production highly volatile since then.

Sanalla said the dispute with BASF’s oil and gas company Wintershall was linked to a decree issued this year by the Presidency Council of the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli, giving it the power to negotiate investment agreements with foreign companies.

The NOC opposes the decree, Resolution 270, which Sanalla said had been “drafted with the assistance of Wintershall to benefit Wintershall”.

Sanalla said this is a very serious matter, adding that the country would be producing almost 1 million (bpd) if it were not for Wintershall’s refusal to implement terms it agreed to in 2010.”