Libya sets 2018 oil contracts, Glencore keeps Sarir/Messla grades.

Catogory : Market Report

Glencore is keeping the marketing rights for the Sarir and Messla crude grades for a third year even though BP and Shell are returning to lift Libyan oil in a sign the country’s industry is perceived as becoming more reliable, sources said.

One source familiar with the matter said Libya’s state oil firm National Oil Corp (NOC) had allocated its 2018 crude and that the contracts would be signed next week.

With production having steadied at around 1200000 million barrels per day (bpd) since the middle of last year, Libya,

Last August, Shell directly lifted its first cargo of Libyan crude in five years.

Since the end of 2015, Glencore has been the sole marketer of the Sarir and Messla grades, which are produced in the east of the country and exported via the Hariga port.

Earlier this month, the NOC said it was seeking a prompt restart of the country’s largest refinery at Ras Lanuf, following a resolution to arbitration cases with its operator, Lerco.

NOC subsidiary Arabian Gulf Oil Co produces the Sarir and Messla grades. Output has been fluctuating between around 150,000 and 230,000 bpd, its chairman said in early January, below its potential 320,000 bpd owing to power problems.