Head Of Libya’s NOC To Attend OPEC/Non-OPEC Meeting

OPEC has invited Libya to share its production plans with the Joint OPEC-Non-OPEC Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) next week, and Libya will attend the gathering, with National Oil Corporation (NOC) chairman Mustafa Sanalla leading the delegation, NOC said on Tuesday.

The recovery of Libya and Nigeria’s crude oil production in the past two months has rekindled fears that rising supply from those two African producers exempt from the OPEC cuts is offsetting a large part of the reductions and is depressing crude oil prices, alongside rising U.S. shale output.

The JMMC is gathering in Russia on July 24, and has invited Nigeria and Libya to attend to discuss their current production and short-term plans, Kuwait Oil Minister Issam Almarzooq said earlier this month.

According to OPEC’s latest Monthly Oil Market Report, Libya and Nigeria contributed the most to the 393,000-bpd increase in the cartel’s total crude output in June compared to May. Libya’s output jumped by 127,000 bpd to 852,000 bpd, while Nigerian crude production rose by 96,700 bpd to 1.733 million bpd.

Libya is right on track to reach its goal to raise crude output to 1 million bpd by the end of July.

Libya’s production now stands at 1.032 million bpd, an oil industry official told Reuters on Monday. Output increased to above 1 million at the end of June, and has been in the range 1 million-1.05 million bpd since then.

Related: The Only Way OPEC Can Kill U.S. Shale

Referring to the OPEC/non-OPEC meeting that he would be attending, NOC chairman Sanalla said in the company statement:

“We will take this opportunity to share with the committee the factors enabling and constraining Libya's production recovery.”

“I will consult with significant Libyan decision-makers before I leave and hope to present a unified Libyan position in St Petersburg that will show we can act together in the national interest,” Sanalla noted.  

Nigeria’s Ministry of Petroleum Resources, for its part, said last week that oil minister Emmanuel Kachikwu confirmed he had been invited to attend the meeting in Russia, but he would not be able to attend because of a scheduling conflict. But Nigeria has signaled that it is ready to support OPEC’s cuts and limit its crude oil output when it reaches a stable 1.8 million bpd.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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