In these times of ongoing political instability and conflict in Libya, the most critical challenge for the state-run oil sector is keeping major producing oil and gas fields and crude export terminals operational. Current oil production at or around 1mn b/d is already beyond the expectations of most analysts at the beginning of the year. But state-owned National Oil Corporation (NOC) continues to aim for more ambitious targets set out early in the year, and in particular to ramp up output to 1.25mn b/d by the end of 2017 (MEES, 10 February).
With this in mind, NOC chief Mustafa Sanalla is doing what he can to encourage companies already operating in Libya to continue to boost production, and to persuade those that are currently absent from the country due to the instability of recent years to return. (CONTINUED - 2141 WORDS)
