Tuesday 8 June 2021
Last update on Tuesday, June 8, 2021 At 9:57 AM
Thanks to the political appeasement it has experienced over the past few months, Libya is allowing itself to dream and wants to more than double its production by next year. For this, the country has requested the support of its long-standing partner, TotalEnergies.
On June 5 in Paris, Libyan Oil Minister Mohamed Oun said the country hopes to increase oil production to 4 million barrels a day within a year. The original target for next year was around 2 million barrels per day.
To achieve this, the Libyan authorities are counting on putting into production several existing projects with the return of companies that left the country during the war, but also on France. Indeed, contracts have been signed with TotalEnergies to restore some of the oil fields destroyed over the past ten years.
Among these perimeters, the Mabrouk field, whose production exceeds 40,000 barrels per day will soon be developed by the French giant. It is a colossal project which, if successful, should make Libya the largest oil producer in Africa and one of the largest in the world.
Despite being exempt from cut production quotas, the country could mostly face restrictions from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), of which it is a member, as the cartel seeks to balance its supply.
The petroleum minister said the project aims to extract the country from a decade of chaos and conflict and revive a dying national economy. Mohamed Oun recalled that at the same time, efforts are underway to develop oil infrastructure and modernize facilities with the aim of securing a larger share of the refining and export market in the world.
The TotalEnergies Group has been present in Libya since 1954. In 2018, the group’s production in the country reached an average of 63,000 barrels per day.
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