What you do not know about Libya's black gold .. Who controls Libyan oil?

Mahmoud Mohamed - Tripoli

Oil in Libya constitutes about 94% of the resources of the country in which oil was first discovered in 1958 and production officially started in 1961.

Since the outbreak of the events of the Libyan revolution, the production and export business has been affected, and most of the oil companies operating in the fields of exploration, exploration, production and maintenance have left.

Libya is seeking to return to its previous production in the eighties when oil production reached 3 million barrels per day, as the National Oil Corporation works to return foreign companies awarded contracts in Libya, and oil exploration exceeded 15 new discoveries between 2009 and 2010.

The reality of current production and its comparison with the previous periods of the revolution
According to the official monthly statistics, Libya pumps 1.250 million barrels per day of oil and seeks to raise its oil production to 1.5 million barrels in 2020.

Last November, the National Oil Corporation of Tripoli, responsible for operational, export, and technical operations, announced that Libya aims to raise its production to 2.1 million barrels by 2024.

Libya produces 2 billion cubic feet of natural gas through Mellitah through the Al-Wafa Fields Company and the Sabratha offshore platform, in addition to the Sirte Oil and Gas Company, which is produced for local consumption.

In the coming years, the National Oil Corporation aims to produce 3.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas.

In order for Libya to increase its oil and gas production, it requires investments worth $ 60 billion, from which the National Oil Corporation pays only 20 billion to develop oil and gas.

Oil reserves
OPEC data showed that Libya ranks fifth in the Arab world with reserves of about 48.36 billion barrels.

The gas reserves of Libya are about 54.6 trillion cubic feet, placing it at the 21st global rank of gas reserves.

Controls the oil wealth
All oil fields, ports and installations in Libya are under the exclusive control of the Tripoli-based National Oil Corporation, and oversees production, maintenance and services in the oil and gas sector in Libya and coordinates with the Presidential Council of the Government of Accord on contracts for exploration and exploration with foreign companies operating in Libya.

The fields, ports and oil installations are guarded by the oil establishment guards who, before the Libyan revolution, were affiliated with Muammar Gaddafi Brigades and their members were paid their salaries from the army, but years ago the Oil Corporation became the sponsor to pay the salaries of the members of the oil facilities guards.

Companies operating in the country's oil sector
Several Libyan and foreign companies work in Libya that have obtained concession contracts in the oil field, including companies that work in production, manufacturing, refining and others in exploration, exploration, maintenance, and services.

The oil companies operating in the field of operating wholly or partly owned by Libya are the companies of Sirte, Al Waha, Mellitah, the Arabian Gulf, Akakus, Al-Haruj and Al-Mabrouk for the oil operations.

Among the most prominent international companies operating in Libya are the Italian company Eni, which is the largest oil company in Libya, France's Total and Schlumberger, Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, Baker Hughes and American Halliburton.

In addition to the German company Venture Schall, the Austrian company OM in the British and British Petroleum, and Gazprom and Tat denied the two Russians, the Spanish Repsol and the Algerian Sonatrach. In addition to many other companies, including American, Turkish, Chinese and Egyptian companies working in the field of drilling.

The volume of oil revenues
Libya's oil revenues amounted to about 2.2 billion dollars, according to the statistics of the National Oil Corporation during last November.

Libya's oil revenues represent revenues from sales of crude oil, hydrocarbon liquids, oil and petrochemical derivatives, taxes and fees collected from the concession contracts.

The Central Bank of Libya said in Tripoli last October that Libya's oil revenues for the first eight months of this year amounted to 20.2 billion Libyan dinars.

The oil money returns after the export of oil and gas shipments to the Central Bank of Libya, then the executive bodies represented in the National Accord Government spend large portions of these funds on the general budget lines of the country every year.

The most important fields and size of their production
The Sharara oil field is the most important field in Libya, and its production reaches 300 thousand barrels per day, equivalent to a quarter of Libya's gross domestic product of oil, the Oasis field, which produces more than one hundred thousand barrels per day, and the Obelisk and Al Nafoura field, whose production exceeds two hundred thousand barrels per day.

The production of the rest of the fields is less than one hundred thousand barrels per day, distributed over the fields of Al-Farg, Abu Al-Atfal, Al-Atash, 103 Amal, Jakhrah, Tebesty, Elephant, Al-Ghani, Golf, Al-Wafa, Al-Bury, the total platform DP3 and the Sabratha sea platform.

Oil ports and the export process
In Libya, there are several ports for the export of oil, including the Harika oil port in the city of Tobruk and the port of Zouitina in the city of Ijdabiya in eastern Libya, the ports of Brega, Ras Lanuf and Sidra in central Libya, and the ports of Zawiya and Melita in western Libya.

And oversees the National Oil Corporation in Tripoli on the process of exporting oil in oil ships with a tonnage of more than one million barrels, and a barrel equivalent to 159 liters.

Libya exports about a million and a hundred thousand barrels per day of crude oil, while in natural gas, Libya exports about one billion cubic feet of 2 billion cubic feet produced by the country.

Natural gas is exported to Italy through Mellitah Gas Company via a gas line that runs under the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy, owned by Green Stream, while the production of the Sirte company remains for domestic consumption and natural gas is not exported abroad except for liquefied gas and condensate.

Total oil losses due to the war
Oil production in Libya has witnessed sharp fluctuations in recent years due to armed attacks, protests and the frequent closure of oil ports and fields following the events of the Libyan revolution in 2011.

The closure of oil facilities cost Libya more than 135 billion dollars since 2014, as the closure of oil ports in 2013 alone caused losses of 100 billion dollars, and the depletion of foreign currency reserves from 2013 to 2016.

Haftar also caused $ 920 million in losses due to the closure of oil ports and fields in eastern Libya in 2018.

The oil tanks were not spared from the destruction, as there are only four tanks operating in Ras Lanuf out of 13 reservoirs, and the oil tanks in Brega, central Libya, were also damaged by the battles in these areas.

The interests of European countries
Italy is the first oil partner in Libya, as it races with France to extract a major share of exploration, exploration, production and maintenance with companies representing the interests of America, Britain, Germany, Spain, Algeria and Russia.

Chinese, Turkish and Egyptian companies are competing for drilling contracts, as the number of companies that obtained oil concessions before 2011 reached about seventy foreign companies.

New players may appear, including Britain's British Petroleum, Russia's Tat Oil Company and China’s CNBC, which may return to Libya to win new concession contracts in light of the expected withdrawal of a number of companies, including Germany’s Venture Schall from Libya and the American Libya Marathon Oil.

The French company Total is looking for additional contracts, especially after obtaining the American Marathon Oil Company’s share of more than 16.33% of the concessions of the Oasis field located in central Libya, as announced by the National Oil Corporation early this month.

Interests of neighboring countries
Algeria is one of the investors in Libyan oil through the Algerian company Sonatrach, which has frozen its activity in Libya since 2011, despite obtaining a contract for oil-filled concessions near the Algerian-Libyan border.

The government loyal to the successor of Haftar in eastern Libya tried to conclude agreements with Egyptian and Emirati companies to sell oil at a price of $ 55 a barrel, according to the statements of the head of the National Oil Corporation, Mustafa Sanallah.

However, it seems that Egypt failed to obtain contracts from the government of Haftar and buy Libyan oil illegally, as the National Oil Corporation announced in early October the return of Egyptian oil companies such as Petrojet and Enppi to work again in Libya and complete its stalled projects in the oil and gas sector.

In January 2018, the UAE lost the arbitration case against the National Oil Corporation with the ruling to pay $ 120 million to the oil company, after the Libyan-Emirati company failed to develop the Ras Lanuf oil facility.