"National Oil Corporation (NOC) has lifted force majeure on all oil exports from Libya. The first vessel to load is the Kriti Bastion from Es Sider oil port. The increase in production will take a long time due to the significant damage to reservoirs and infrastructure caused by the illegal blockade imposed on January 17," the company said on Facebook.
"For NOC, the work has just started. Our infrastructure has suffered lasting damage, and our focus now must be on maintenance and securing a budget for the work to be done. We also must take steps to ensure Libya’s oil production is never again held to ransom," NOC Chairman Eng Mustafa Sanalla said, as quoted in the statement.
Libya collapsed into a failed state after Muammar Gaddafi’s assassination by rebels backed by NATO airpower in 2011. In the years that followed, various factions, criminal gangs, and Islamist terrorist groups established control of large chunks of the country.
The largest factions – the Government of National Accord in Tripoli and the Tobruk-based House of Representatives supported by Haftar, emerged as the country’s largest competing power blocs, and have engaged in a series of armed clashes after defeating smaller rivals.