DUBAI, August 20 (RIA Novosti) - One of Libya’s biggest oil depots, Sidra, has carried out its first oil shipment since a July 2013 blockade by federalists, Arabic Economist online newspaper reported Wednesday, citing a Libyan National Oil Corporation representative.
The depot, with a 320,000-barrel daily capacity, got the permission to resume operations following a July agreement between Libyan authorities and one of the militant groups demanding more autonomy for the country’s eastern provinces.
Though oil production in Libya has increased to up to 562,000 barrels per day over the last several months, it is still very far from pre-civil war levels of about 1.6 million barrels per day, according to the US Energy Information Administration’s Monthly Energy Review for July.
Libya is currently facing its worst wave of violence since the 2011 overthrow of the country’s long-standing leader Muammar Gaddafi and the subsequent civil war. After the conflict, the country has seen violent clashes between numerous militias, armed with weapons seized from Gaddafi government ammunition depots. According to the Libya Body Count data, more than 1,100 people have been killed in 2014.
