Oil exports from the Libyan port of Marsa al Brega have resumed
after a force majeure was lifted as protesters ended their blockade
of the terminal, the deputy oil minister said Monday.
"A few tankers have left the port after we lifted the force
majeure on Aug. 22," Omar Shakmak told Dow Jones Newswires. "The
port is now operating as normal and at full capacity," he said.
Brega, with a capacity of around 90,000 barrels a day, is one of
the four ports affected by the force majeure, declared after
protests caused the facilities to be shut at the end of July, as
workers demanded the payment of wages, as well as higher salaries
or more jobs. However, officials said the situation was more
precarious, with armed guards trying to sell oil without government
approval.
The strikes in eastern and central Libyan ports had effectively
shut down shipments from terminals there, which account for more
than half of Libya's $60 billion of oil exports annually.
Es Sider, the largest of Libya's oil terminals with a 350,000
barrel-a-day capacity, as well as Ras Lanuf and Zueitina in eastern
Libya remain closed.
Storage facilities in the country, a member of the Organization
of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, have filled with crude,
crimping any new production. According to data supplied by the oil
ministry, Libya's output fell in the first half of August to about
500,000 barrels a day -- about one-third of the highs reached last
summer and the lowest since just after Libya's civil war ended in
late 2011.
Write to Summer Said at summer.said@wsj.com
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