The state-owned Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC) announced on Friday that the country’s daily oil production has dropped by 100,000 barrels per day due to its inability to maintain oil tanks damaged by armed conflicts.
“The National Oil Corporation expresses deep concern about having to reduce daily oil production as a result of the inability to carry out maintenance of tanks damaged by wars, as well as the disruption of some emergency projects,” the NOC said in a statement.
Currently, 11 out of the 19 oil tanks are out of service, making it impossible to maintain oil production, according to NOC Chairman Mustafa Sanalla.
Waha Oil Company, a Tripoli-based company engaged in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas, “was forced to reduce its production by about 100,000 barrels per day as a result of the lack of storage capacities, because of the suspension of maritime traffic in the ports of the Sirte Gulf,” Sanalla said.
The NOC statement said bad weather caused the closure of most oil ports in the Sirte Gulf, but the closure could have been averted if proper infrastructure had been in place.