A trading manager at Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) has told Reuters that the country's largest refinery, Ras Lanuf [Ra's Lanuf], will restart production by 28th August.
The prolonged closure of the plant caused shortages of jet fuel and naphtha, among other products, in the Mediterranean area, while freeing up additional volumes of light sweet crude oil for export.
Ras Lanuf can process 220,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd), accounting for almost two-thirds of Libya's oil refining capacity. It is owned by the Libyan Emirati Refining Company (Lerco), a joint venture between the NOC and Trasta Energy, headed by powerful United Arab Emirates businessman, Essa Al Ghurair.
The plant was ready to resume operations late last year, a dispute between the NOC and its UAE-based partner over payments for crude oil reportedly caused the restart to be pushed back repeatedly.
(Source: Reuters)
