Libya resumes crude oil exports as the political impasse eases

• A political impasse related to the leadership of the central bank of Libya led to the halt of oil production and exports.
• The rival governments appear to have reached a compromise, allowing an oil tanker to load crude oil at the port of Zueitina.
• The resumption of oil exports from Libya could help stabilize global oil prices.

An oil tanker was approved to dock and load crude at Libya’s Zueitina port on Friday, engineers told Reuters, as rival governments in the east and west appeared to be nearing a compromise in their dispute that has halted oil production. crude oil and export. in African producer OPEC.

Kriti Samaria was allowed to enter the oil export terminal in Zueitina, where it is expected to load 600,000 barrels of crude oil. The tanker is allowed to load crude oil from storage tanks and will be headed to Italy with the cargo, according to engineers who spoke to Reuters.

Some of Libya’s production and exports were halted early last week due to a political impasse over the leadership of the OPEC producer’s central bank.

Oil production at several Libyan oil fields was halted on August 27 after the rival government in the east announced a halt to Libyan oil production and exports.

Libya, which pumps about 1.2 million barrels a day of oil, was plunged into a deeper political crisis in early August following a dispute over the leadership of the Central Bank of Libya, the only internationally recognized depository of the revenues oil companies of Libya.

The internationally recognized government in the western capital, Tripoli, was seeking to replace Sadiq Al-Kabir, the governor of Libya’s Central Bank. This led to the latest controversy between Eastern and Western governments and political factions, again threatening to cut Libya’s oil production and exports.

This week, Libya’s warring political factions reached an agreement on the mechanism and timelines for the appointment of the Central Bank Governor and Board of Directors in consultations hosted by the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL).

UNSMIL-supervised talks will continue until September 9.

The possible end in sight of the latest threat to Libyan oil exports helped lower oil prices earlier this week, with Brent falling nearly 5 percent on Tuesday.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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