In an exclusive interview with the Libya Herald, the Chief Researcher at the Libyan Petroleum Institute, Dr Mohamed Al-Busaifi, said Libya does have the ability to produce 1.5 million barrels of oil per day.
Al-Busafi was speaking Tuesday on the margins of the Libyan Petroleum Institute’s (LPI) workshop under the banner “Libyan Oil Field Chemicals: Challenges and Applications” held in Tripoli.
Several scientific papers were presented at the workshop by experts from the National Oil Corporation (NOC), engineers, technicians, and researchers from 19 local oil companies.
The workshop included interventions from the attendees, which established the principle of integration between the capabilities of the LPI and the needs of oil companies in scientific support and technical advice in the use of petroleum chemicals and their applications.
In response to Libya Herald’s question regarding Libya’s ability to produce 1.5 million barrels by the end of this year, Al-Busaifi said, “We do not work with a system of predictions and expectations. We conduct studies, formulate research, and make contact with oil sector companies to provide the necessary advice so that we can increase production. This is done after providing the technical requirements necessary to develop production processes and raise Libya’s ability to produce additional quantities of crude.’’
He said, “I do not rule out the ability of NOC companies and foreign partners to reach more than 1.5 million bpd this year, but rather more than that, as long as there is great stability and the availability of material, human and technical capabilities and the absence of a new wave of closures.
Al-Busaifi confirmed that this period is witnessing a great recovery in the Libyan oil sector. He said the drilling of new wells has begun or the restarting wells that had stopped working and producing during the past years for several different considerations.
He stressed that the LPI can provide the necessary technical advice in the field of oil well chemicals to local drilling and production companies, as well as to foreign partners in the sector.
Libya has had experience in various technical and technological fields in the oil sector through long decades of work and research and has the necessary human expertise to support the oil sector at the time of need with consultants, especially in oil well chemicals stores, he concluded.
