On 28 December, the National Oil Corporation (NOC) released a statement affirming that the estimated total projected revenues of oil sales for 2018 will reach US $24.2 billion, which is a 76% increase from 2017. Also in its statement, the NOC indicated that the income from the sale of crude oil was US $2.4 billion for November – the third highest monthly total of 2018 though down compared to the US $2.87 billion that was brought in in October.The statement portrays a mixed picture of Libya’s total revenue from oil sales. The drop in income for November was a result of a decrease in production from 1.115 million barrels per day (bpd) in October to 1.104 million bpd in November, according to OPEC. Production is likely to fall again in December due to the halt in operations at Sharara. The fluctuations are indicative of Libya’s volatile operating environment where oil fields are frequently shutdown due to protests, while production levels are also hampered by dilapidated infrastructure.On a related topic, on 27 December, Chairman of the National Oil Corporation (NOC) Mustafa Sanallah said that the Sharara oil field will stay closed until reforms relating to the Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG) in the southern region are undertaken. In a statement, Sanallah said that the NOC was working to implement security measures in the field and that production would return as soon as possible.Click here to read the article.
Libya releases latest oil revenue figures