By Sami Zaptia.
London, 3 February 2020:
Libya’s state National Oil Corporation (NOC) chairman, Mustafa Sanalla, met in London last Wednesday with the Japanese coalition tasked with studying the development of concession 47 in Libya’s Sirte Basin (Al-Bayda and Al-Haram fields) under the 2009 memorandum of understanding.
The NOC reported that the coalition presented in detail the results of the study and the optimal development plan with a development strategy of the Al-Bayda and Al-Haram fields to raise production rates to about 80,000 barrels per day. Currently, the fields produce less than 10,000 barrels per day with the Al-Haram field not going into production since its discovery in the 1960s due to its heavy oil.
The NOC expressed satisfaction with the Japanese coalition’s presentation, expressing some observations to be considered. The coalition will present a revised development plan in the coming days and a proposed type of contractual relationship.
It will be recalled that the NOC is engaged in a major plan to increase Libya’s oil production. However, at the time of writing, oil production is down to from over 1.2 million barrels per day (mbpd) to 320,000 b/d.
It will be recalled that, ostensibly, tribal supporters of Khalifa Hafter in the eastern Libyan oil crescent blockaded oil ports preventing Libya from exporting its production on 18 January – the eve of the Berlin conference on Libya. Other fields in other areas were also shut down. The internationally recognized government in Tripoli blames the blockade directly on Khalifa Hafter.
https://www.libyaherald.com/2020/01/26/noc-calls-for-oil-blockade-to-be-ended-updates-production-and-revenue-losses/