Libya is preparing to restart oil production that has been halted since the end of August after an agreement on a new central bank director was reached, two oil engineers told Reuters on Tuesday.
“We are now waiting for orders from the Corporation (the state oil company) to resume production at its normal level after a month-long shutdown,” said an engineer at the Jalu 59 oil field.
An engineer at the Elfeel oil field said they took advantage of the nearly month-long closure to carry out maintenance work.
Domestic production and export operations were disrupted in August when eastern Libya’s parallel government declared the closure of oil facilities in protest against the ouster of Libya’s veteran Central Bank governor ( CBL), Sadiq Kabir, by the Presidential Council of Tripoli.
A new CBL governor, Naji Mohamed Issa Belgasem, and his deputy, Mari Muftah Rahil Barrasi, were approved Monday by the two legislative bodies: the House of Representatives in Benghazi and the High Council of State in Tripoli.
Belgasem and Barrasi were sworn in before parliament on Tuesday in a televised session.
Almost all of Libya’s oil fields are in the country’s east, which is under the control of military commander Khalifa Haftar, who heads the Libyan National Army.
Libya’s National Oil Corporation said on August 28 that oil production had fallen by more than half compared to usual levels. It has not released new production figures since then.
Libya’s oil production has been repeatedly disrupted in the chaotic decade following the country’s 2014 division between two administrations in the east and west following the country’s government-backed uprising. NATO which overthrew Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
