A pipeline leak has cut Libya’s crude oil output by about 200,000 bpd, industry sources said on Wednesday. The leak affected Waha Oil, a subsidiary of state-owned National Oil Company (NOC). The sources said Waha Oil’s production has fallen to around 80,000 bpd. The company has deployed engineers to evaluate the extent of the damage, with repairs expected to last seven to ten days.
Waha Oil’s production makes up Libya’s flagship Es Sider grade, exported from the terminal with the same name. Ship-tracking data indicates that Es Sider exported an average of 187,000 bpd in September. Preliminary loading dates showed about 290,000 bpd of Es Sider are bound for export this month.
Libya holds the largest oil reserves in Africa. It produced an eight-year high of 1.19 million bpd in March. However, output has trended downward slightly to an average of 1.13 million bpd in September. The oil ministry has said it plans to increase production to 1.4 million bpd by December and 1.6 million bpd by 2022. Analysts said such a target would rely on the government funding to NOC, which has not been approved. The production target is also lower than Libya’s crude output peak of about 1.75 million bpd in 2008.
