The Chairman of the Tripoli-based National Oil Corporation (NOC), Mustafa Sanallah, and the Chairman of the parallel Benghazi-based NOC, Naji Al-Maghrabi, signed an MoU by which oil exportation will resume from Al-Hariga port.

This agreement came on the margins of Vienna talks for supporting Libya, which was held Monday.
An official in the Tripoli-based NOC said the two parties agreed on resuming exportation from AL-Hariga to maintain the validity of the pipelines, to avoid a looming cash crisis, and to avoid power outages.

Oil exportation has been stopped since the beginning of May due to the conflict between the Tripoli NOc and its parallel Benghazi counterpart, which was formed by Al-Thanni government that is loyal to the Tobruk-based HoR in the east.

Stopping oil exportation from Al-Hariga port was ordered by Benghazi NOC after it had failed to export an oil shipment, which would have been its first. However, the Indian-flagged and UAE-owned vessel, aboard which was the oil cargo, was blacklisted by the UN Security Council and was ordered to unload the oil, which was rendered as stolen by international organisations, in the western Azzawiya port.

The Tripoli-based NOC said it will rent an oil tanker to ship 400 thousand barrels from Al-Hariga port to Azzawiya refinery, in addition to the vessel, SEACHANCE, which is already anchored ashore Al-Hariga port since the beginning of May waiting for being loaded with oil for the Tripoli-based NOC.

Analysts say that this reconciliation between the two corporations could help Libya boost its oil output rapidly to exceed 300 thousand barrels a day - the same as before they get into a limbo, which reduced the production to half from two key fields in the east.