The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has given Libya the green light to increase its crude oil export regardless of a deal being set up to cut production to manage the oversupply of crude oil and bolster prices.

According to the chairman of the National Oil Corporation (NOC), Mustafa Sanalla, Libya’s production currently stands at 600,000 barrels of oil per day and has Africa’s largest crude oil reserves.

He added that the goal is to increase oil production to 900,000 barrels per day by the end of this year and target 1.1 million barrels of oil per day in 2017.

Sanalla said Libya is heading toward economic revival but ongoing clashes still put oil facilities at risk of being attacked again.

Libya was producing around 1.6 million barrels per day before the 2011 uprising but as the violence in the country increased, oil fields and ports were shut down as rivaling militia groups struggled to take possession of the country’s main source of revenue, Libyan Gazette reports.

This violence had put the oil fields and ports under force majeure. However, the force majeure for Zueitina oil port, along with Es Sider and Ras Lanuf oil ports, was lifted by the NOC on September 14 when a deal was signed by the state oil company and Haftar.

With the North African country’s comeback to the oil market, crude oil supply has been surpassing demand and making prices drop.

The deal to cut oil production on November 30, in Vienna by OPEC, however exempts Libya, Nigeria and Iran, which means the more the countries produce the more pressure there will be on the other countries to cut back oil production.

Anita Fatunji