TRIPOLI —
Libya’s lifeline oil and gas exports raised
revenues of more than $21.5 billion in 2021, the highest level in five years,
the
National Oil Corporation announced Saturday.
اضافة اعلان
Total net revenues for oil and gas exports last year
amounted to $21.5 billion as well as 30 million euros in non-dollar sales, the
state-run NOC said in a statement.
It said record levels were achieved in November and
December, raising a combined $4.3 billion in the two last months of 2021.
“The end of the year 2021 recorded a recovery, and
oil prices achieved their largest annual gains since 2016, driven by the
recovery of the global economy from the state of stagnation” due to the
coronavirus epidemic, NOC chief Mustafa Sanalla said.
Since the 1970s, Libya which sits on the largest
known oil reserves in Africa has been heavily dependent on revenues from its
hydrocarbon exports.
But in a decade of violence since the 2011 revolt
that overthrew and killed dictator Muammar Gaddafi, armed groups have
frequently blockaded or damaged oil installations.
The shutdowns have forced the NOC to declare force
majeure, a legal move allowing it to free itself from contractual obligations
in light of factors beyond its control.
Oil production has recovered to 1.2 million barrels
per day, as opposed to between 1.5 million and 1.6 million bpd before the
NATO-backed uprising of 2011.
But Sanalla warned “the ability of the oil sector in
Libya to invest and advance the process of infrastructure modernization will
remain weak in the foreseeable future, especially in light of the scarcity of
budgets”.
“What we need more than ever is to think outside the box and
create initiatives to save the infrastructure,” he stressed.
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