Libyan oil production targets hit wall

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VIENNA, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- Damage from the Libyan civil war to the country's oil infrastructure meant there would be a delay in reaching production forecasts, an executive said.

Libyan National Oil Co. Chairman Nuri Burrein said from Vienna that Libyan oil production should reach 1.7 million barrels per day during the first quarter of next year. Damage to offshore wells and pipelines in the country meant production goals were slightly delayed, the Platts news service reports.

The Libyan oil sector has rebounded since last year's civil war and is producing around 1.6 million barrels per day, its pre-war level.

NATO forces responded to the Libyan civil war last year with airstrikes, which paved the way to regime change in the country.

Burrein said Libya expected to reach a production level of around 2 million barrels of oil per day in three to five years.

German energy company Wintershall last month said it was planning to build an oil pipeline for the Libyan port of Ras Lanuf by next year. The pipeline has a design capacity of 100,000 bpd.

Wintershall's oil production had reached 85,000 barrels per day by October. Before the war, it was producing around 100,000 barrels of oil per day. It operates eight onshore fields in Libya.