Libyan Minister of Oil and Gas, Dr. Abdulbari Alarusi [Al Arusi] said on Monday that Libya will seek to increase its oil output quota in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
OPEC dropped individual allocations in 2011 when it adopted a 30-million-bpd output target, but Reuters reports that with production rising in Libya and Iraq the issue of quotas may need to be re-visited.
Libya’s last output target, under a 2008 deal where quotas were not issued publicly, was 1.47 million bpd. Al-Arusi said that current Libyan oil production stood at around 1.5 million bpd.
Deputy Oil Minister Omar Shakmak recently said that Libya aimed for an average of 1.5 million bpd output this year, increasing to 1.7 million bpd from the third quarter.
Arusi also said Libya, with Africa’s largest reserves, would offer new exploration concessions but did not give a time frame.
(Sources: Reuters, CNBC Arabia)
