- As Nigeria, Libya know fate soon, over Oil production exemption
Determined to stabilise Libya and truncate the ceaseless inflows of migrants into Europe, the French Foreign Minister Jean Yves Le Drian on Monday, met with Libyan officials in Tripoli to offer support for a deal between political rivals signed in Paris.
Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Seraj and the divided nation’s eastern commander Khalifa Haftar had in July committed to conditional ceasefire.
They also pledged to work toward elections, but the agreement did not include other key factions.
Worried about Islamist militants and smugglers thriving in Libya’s chaos, Western governments are pushing for a broader U.N.-backed deal to unify the country and end the instability that had weakened the country since the 2011 fall of Muammar Gaddafi.
In Tripoli, Le Drian met Seraj and planned talks with Abdulrahman Swehli, a politician connected to some of Haftar’s rivals who heads a parliamentary council in the capital, Libyan officials said.
Le Drian is also to visit Misrata, Swehli’s home city and a base of opposition to Haftar, before heading to Benghazi to meet Haftar and to Tobruk to meet the head of an eastern-based parliament that backs him.
The French minister’s visit is in line with President Emmanuel Macron’s push for a deeper French role in bringing Libyan factions together in the hope of countering violence and easing Europe’s migrant crisis.
“Our objective is the stabilisation of Libya in the interests of the Libyans themselves.
“A united Libya, equipped with functioning institutions, is the condition for avoiding the terrorist threat in the long term,” Le Drian said in a statement in Tripoli.
He said the Paris deal was meant to support the U.N.-backed accord for a government of national unity.
Past Western attempts to broker agreements had often fallen victim to political infighting among rival factions and armed brigades vying for power in the oil rich country.
Seraj’s government had struggled to impose control and its presidential council is divided.
Haftar, who had refused to accept Seraj’s legitimacy, is backed by allies in Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.
In the meantime, will Nigeria and Libya continue to enjoy their exemption from the oil production cut deal? Or, will the two members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) be asked to seal their production quotas? They are to know their fate soon.
Both countries were on November 30, last year, exempted from the oil production cut deal with non-OPEC countries. The implementation of the decision began on January 1, this year. Nigeria and Libya have been invited to participate in the producer group’s latest ministerial committee meeting scheduled for September 22.
The two countries have been invited to the meeting billed for Vienna, Austria for a review of the latest developments in their oil sectors, Kuwait’s OPEC Governor Haitham al-Ghais told Al-Rai newspaper.
Going by the account of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, Nigeria’s oil production, including crude oil and condensates, is between 2.2 million and 2.3 million barrels per day (bpd). Ccondensates, according to him, accounts for about 300,000bpd to 400,000 bpd.
The latest S&P Global Platts OPEC survey in Bloomberg report said the Libyan output recovered to reach an average of 990,000 bpd in July, its highest level in three years up from 180,000 b/d in June.
This was before the closure of three fields, including the 300,000 bpd Sharara, 90,000bpd El-Fil and 10,000 bpd Hamada fields, shutting-in around 360,000 bpd of output since the middle of last month.
OPEC is expected to consult with Nigeria and Libya to identify their plans, Ghais said. The group will hold a technical committee meeting on September 20, looking at the continued effects of the United States (U.S.) shale oil on the global market and the impact of Hurricane Harvey.
Ghais said: “The amount of production affected by the hurricane is estimated at 700,000bpd, which may strengthen the status of the market.”
He added that U.S. production had increased by 500,000bpd so far this year, compared to last year’s.
The September 20 meeting will be followed by another meeting on September 22, where a committee overseeing the deal, composed of oil ministers from Kuwait, Russia, Venezuela, Algeria, Oman and Saudi Arabia.
According to Platts, Saudi Arabia and Russia are seeking to extend the deal for a further three months to June, to demonstrate their commitment to market management and dampen fears that the producers will return to a market-share battle as soon as the deal expires.
But there indications that Libya and Nigeria may be asked to cap their crude oil productions at the meeting.
Additional report from Nation
