Libya to Return to Pre-Conflict Oil Output Levels by Mid-2017

Sputnik News

14:24 16.12.2016

Libyan oil output will climb back to its normal levels by the middle of 2017, Aguila Saleh, the speaker of the country's internationally recognized parliament in Tobruk, told Sputnik Friday.

CAIRO (Sputnik) – Libya has the largest oil reserves in Africa and the tenth largest globally. Since 2011, when country's longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi was toppled, Libyan oil production had dropped from 1.65 million barrels per day to 250,000 in August 2016.

"Oil production began to grow, and in the beginning or the middle of the [next] year it will reach its normal level," Saleh said.

As agreed in December 2015, the two Libyan rival parliaments – the Tobruk-based House of Representatives and the Tripoli-based New General National Congress – established a UN-backed Libyan Political Dialogue as a mechanism of reconciliation and formed the Government of National Accord, which is yet to be supported by the House of Representatives.

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