By Benoît Faucon
LONDON--Libya said Wednesday it was resuming oil exports from
its largest terminal after a year-long stoppage, as its oil
industry manages to recover despite intense fighting in large
cities.
But new uncertainty emerged later in the day as Libya's de facto
oil minister said he was being replaced.
Italian tanker Maria Bottiglieri, which arrived overnight, is
set to leave later Wednesday from the Es Sider terminal with about
600,000 barrels on board, Mohamed el-Harari, a spokesman for the
state-owned National Oil Co. told The Wall Street Journal. Mr.
el-Harari said the vessel was chartered by Austria's OMG AG and is
bound for the Italian port of Trieste, confirming information from
shipping and oil managers.
The terminal, which has an export capacity of 350,000 barrels a
day, hasn't shipped any oil to international markets since July
2013, when it was occupied by an armed group seeking greater
regional autonomy for Eastern Libya. But after a rebel attempt to
sell oil was stopped by U.S. marines, the militants agreed to
reopen the port--along with the neighboring Ras Lanuf
terminal--last month.
While the first Es Sider export will draw on oil in storage at
the terminal, production to supply the terminal--notably the
150,000-barrels-a-day Waha field--is set to restart mid-next week,
Mr. el-Harari said.
Together with the resumption on Libya's largest oil field
Sharara in the West of the country, the reopening of oil ports has
now pushed production to about 560,000 barrels a day--nearly four
times its level late May, he added.
Weary of the country's unreliability, oil buyers haven't rushed
to purchase Libya's returning barrels. But after state-owned
company National Oil Co. cut its prices, OMV and Unipec, the
trading arm of China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., or Sinopec,
have largely replaced traditional Libyan oil buyers from the
Mediterranean and together bought the majority of the country's oil
cargoes this month, according to a shipping broker. Sinopec didn't
return a request for comment while OMV declined to comment.
The positive news was overshadowed by the resignation of Libya's
de facto oil minister, Omar Shakmak, who had been at the helm of
the oil sector in a caretaking capacity since January. Mr. Shakmak
said he was leaving his official position as deputy oil minister at
the request of Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thani. Mustafa Sanalla,
chairman of the state-owned National Oil Co., will replace him for
the time being, NOC officials said
Under Mr. Shakmak's watch, Libya's oil industry has staged a
strong recovery in recent weeks despite intense clashes between
rival militia in large cities, notably in the capital of Tripoli.
Fighting escalated early Monday when, according to Libya's
government website, aircraft bombed locations controlled by an
Islamist militia that is trying to take over Tripoli's airport.
Write to Benoît Faucon at benoit.faucon@wsj.com