Uncertainty over Eastern Libya oil exports
Since the Mislah and Sarir oil fields attacks last week by Gaddafi forces, here are the latest developments about oil production and exports from Eastern Libya. Libyan Oil Exports Depend on Rebels Securing Sarir
Bloomberg - Maher Chmaytelli - Apr 12, 2011 5:31 PM GMT+0200 Attacks last week by Qaddafi’s troops forced production from Sarir and Messla to a halt, Agoco’s head of communication, Abdeljalil Mayouf, said in an interview today in the company’s headquarters in Benghazi, the main city under control of the National Transitional Council that is leading the rebellion. Messla suffered “heavy damage” to pumps, storage tanks and electricity equipment, while production from Sarir stopped because the area remains vulnerable to attacks, he said. “Messla will take months to repair; Sarir can return to production once the area is secured,” he said. While Sarir has a capacity to produce 200,000 barrels a day, Agoco was operating it at half this rate since the fighting started in February as the company had to withdraw staff for security reasons, Mayouf said. Messla was running at one-third of its 100,000 barrel-a-day capacity, he said.
Libya rebels cut oil flow to Tobruk
Platts, Sherif Elhelwa, Apr 11, 2011 13:47 GMT Libya's rebel-led National Transitional Council has reduced the flow of crude oil from fields under its control to storage tanks in the port of Tobruk by 75% with no word as to when they will be able to sell a second cargo of crude oil, a source at the 20,000 b/d Tobruk refinery said Monday. The source did not say how much crude oil was still being held in storage at the Mediterranean oil terminal of Marsa El Hariga near Tobruk. The terminal has 4 million barrels of oil storage capacity of which 3 million barrels is usable. Libyan rebels operating a transitional government out of the eastern city of Benghazi sold their first crude oil cargo out of Marsa El Hariga on April 6 when the Equator, a Suezmax tanker chartered by Vitol, loaded a cargo of Sarir/Mesla blend crude oil. The tanker loaded 130,000 mt of crude. The National Transitional Council said it has concluded a deal with Qatar to market crude oil on its behalf to generate revenue to meet humanitarian needs of Libyans in areas under rebel control. It was the first such oil sale by the rebels since the start of the insurrection against Libyan leader Moammar Qadhafi on February 17. The state-owned National Oil Company based in Tripoli has threatened legal action against any company that deals with the rebels. There has been no word as to when the rebels expect to sell a second cargo with officials wary of revealing their plans for fear that Qadhafi loyalists will attack oil fields operated by former NOC subsidiaries that have defected to the rebel side.