The National Oil Corporation, affiliated with the UN-recognized Libyan government in the country's east, said it will sign agreements with six companies to sell Libyan crude oil after a peace deal was signed between rival factions in the divided country.
"The companies, including Netoil SA, will sell crude from the Mesla and Sarir oilfields via Hariga Port," chairman of the Bayda-based National Oil Corporation Nagi Elmagrabi said by phone, Bloomberg reported.
Netoil will market term contracts for next year, offering 2 million barrels a month in cargo sizes of 1 million barrels, said Robin Henderson, head of business development at the company.
“We will soon sign with six companies, including Netoil, for the sale of Libyan oil from Mesla and Sarir oilfields from Hariga,” Elmagrabi said. “We are in negotiations with about 40 companies for crude exports.”
Libya has two administrations, one in the west and an internationally recognized government in the east. The NOC in the west is recognized by traders such as Glencore Plc and Vitol Group as the official marketer of Libyan oil. The eastern government has set up a separate NOC administration, which represents Libya in matters relating to oil, including OPEC. Elmagrabi said the headquarters of NOC in the east will be moved from Bayda to Benghazi on Dec. 24, in line with a decision taken by his government in 2013.
Rival Libyan factions from the Tripoli-based General National Congress in the west and the House of Representatives in the eastern city of Tobruk signed a peace deal on Thursday after a year in which opposing groups, each with its own legislature and armed allies, tussled over oil and power.
The strife has caused output from the country with Africa’s largest oil reserves to slump almost 80% since longtime autocrat Muammar Qaddafi was toppled in 2011. Libya pumped 375,000 barrels a day in November, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
