Libya produces 1.6 million barrels of oil per day

Libya is now producing 1.6 million barrels of oil per day, the country's oil and gas minister said on Monday. Speaking at a conference in the capital Tripoli, Abdulrahman Ben Yezza said that 70 per cent of production was exported. National Oil Company chairman Nouri Balrwin told journalists at the conference that the country hopes to raise production to 1.8 million barrels per day in 2013, adding that production is currently at about 70 per cent of capacity. Balrwin said that Libya's hydrocarbon reserves will enable it to remain an energy exporter "for many decades" if it makes full use of its renewable energy resources. Crude oil and natural gas made up 98 per cent of Libya's exports in 2010, bringing in about 47 billion dollars.