Libya’s state National Oil Corporation confirmed a drop in production to the current level of 181,576 barrels per day, with losses resulting from the illegal blockades amounting to 1,042,384,317 USD.
It should be recalled that daily production was about 1,220,000 barrels per day before the declaration of force majeure on January 18, 2020.
Today, gold prices were steady after two days of gains.
Gold prices did not change at 1566.33 US dollars a troy ounce, but down 1.5% for the week.
However, U.S gold futures were flat at 1569.30 US dollars a troy ounce.
Pladium fell 0.4% to 2336.78 points per ounce. However, metal is still heading toward its first weekly increase in three weeks.
Silver fell 0.3% to $17.76 per ounce, heading for its worst week in two months, while platinum lost 0.2% to $959.79 per ounce.
The officials of the Franco-Libyan Energy Forum declared the postponement the Forum, indicating that the postponement decision came because of the current circumstances of oil sector in Libya.
The Forum was supposed to be held from 6 to 7 February in Paris, under the sponsorship of Libya’s state National Oil Corporation (NOC), Libya’s General Union of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, the MEDEF group of French companies, the Franco-Libyan Chamber of Commerce, with the participation of other oil, gas and energy institutions and experts.
In a statement to “Tabadul”, an official source claimed that a second meeting organized by the United Nations on the Financial and Economic Process in Libya will start next Sunday ( on February 9, 2020) in Cairo, with the participation of 22 Libyan economic figures.
It is worth mentioning that Tunisia embraced the first meeting on January7, 2020 with the participation of 19 Libyan economic figures who represented the main economic financial institutions in the Libyan state.
The Libyan House of Representatives sent a report to the Libyan Audit Bureau and the Administrative Control Authority regarding the deposits of the Libyan Foreign Bank in Lebanon.
The House of Representatives asked to follow up and limit all deposits with the contribution of the Libyan Foreign Bank along with other banks.
This request came as a result of the current circumstances in Lebanon. For instance, the restrictions set by the Central Bank of Lebanon confirms the increasing risks that are threatening North Africa Bank -Beirut- ( one of the contributions of the Libyan Foreign Bank).
Tripoli deputies called on taking the adequate measures depending on the law, revealing in details the investment fields of these deposits, as well as determining the risk ratio under these above-mentioned situations.
On the other hand, an official source from the Libyan Foreign Bank confirmed in a statement to the economic newspaper “sada” that the Libyan Audit Bureau sent an investigation committee to the Libyan Foreign Bank.
This Committee inteds to investigate all the deposits of the Libyan Foreign Bank in Lebanon.
The Chief Executive Officer at Eni, Claudio Descalzi, emphasized that the situation in Libya is really serious.
Descalzio stated that one million oil barrels have been suspended for more than three weeks, indicating that the Eni was forced to reduce its oil production in Libya from 300 thousand barrels per day to about 156 thousand barrels per day.
Claudio Descalzi noted that the current Libyan crisis has no impact on oil prices, which have fallen due to the Coronavirus. However, “shutting down oilfields affects Libya because the state has to pay wages and purchase medicines…” he added.
According to yesterday’s published data, the Central Bank of Libya declared that oil revenues in 2019 represented 55% of the total revenues, while the foreign exchange fee represented 41%.
The bank also announced that about 45% of foreign exchange sales were distened for consumption, and 43% were allocated to Heads of Households. While remittances and personal purposes recorded 12% of the total sales.
The report estimated oil production at 1.250 thousand barrels in 2019, while production in 2016 reached 293 barrels per day.
Morover, the values allocated for development in the western regions represented 4.6 billion dinars. However, 370 million dinars were allocated to development programs in Benghazi.
It should be recalled that Benghazi development programs were postponed due to administrative measures.
Today, oil futures gave up early gains despite potential action from the OPEC+ group of producers to counter an expected fall in oil demand as a consequence of the coronavirus outbreak.
Brent futures were down 31 cents at $54.97 a barrel by 13:25 GMT.
However, U.S West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures reached $50.76.
Yesterday, the General National Maritime Transport Company (GNMTC) announced the arrival of Anwaar Afriqya tanker to Tripoli’s port to discharge 34 million liters of gasoline.
It is important to stress that the National Oil Corporation has repeatedly assured the availability of fuel in sufficient quantities.