Oil giants Total and Repsol provided updates on their resumed production in Libya after both companies slashed their output as a result of the civil war in the North African state.
CEOs Christophe de Margerie, Total and Antonio Brufau, Repsol, provided the following updates during the World Petroleum Congress in Doha.
Production going up
"Production is around 200,000 bpd, from a total of 340,000, which means around 60 per cent of total production and it is going up," Brufau told reporters.
Brufau added that he was not sure when full production would return, pointing out that export capabilities needed to be restored and refineries had to get back to full capacity. But he noted that "the ramp up has been very aggressive. We started two months ago and we are at 60 per cent," Brufau said.
Should reach 1.5 million bpd
De Margerie stated that Libyan oil levels were not far of 700,000 bpd and should reach 1.5 million bpd by the middle of 2012 which would not be too far off the pre-war levels of 1.6mn bpd. De Margerie argued that Libya's quicker return to full production was "good news for the market and industry players alike."
Step by step approach
De Margerie added that there would certainly be room for new exploration opportunities in Libya and Total would pursue these. But Total's immediate priority was on restarting the company's oil production in the war torn North African state. The oil giant would take a careful "step by step" approach to Libya.
