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Libyan Oil Exports Resume After Long Pause


FILE - In this Feb. 26, 2011 file photo, a Libyan oil worker, works at a refinery inside the Brega oil complex, in Brega, eastern Libya.
FILE - In this Feb. 26, 2011 file photo, a Libyan oil worker, works at a refinery inside the Brega oil complex, in Brega, eastern Libya.

Oil production in Libya resumed on Wednesday after a halt that lasted months. The resumption comes after the sacking of the chairman of the state-run oil company by one of the country's rival administrations.

A Malta-flagged tanker, Matala, docked at the al-Sidra terminal to ship one million barrels of crude oil, the new leadership of the National Oil Corporation (NOC) said.

Two other tankers, the Marshall Islands-flagged Nissos Sifnos and the Liberia-flagged Crudemed, were scheduled to ship 1.6 million barrels on Wednesday from the terminals of Zueitina Ras Lanuf, according to the NOC.

Mohamed Hamouda, a Government of National Unity spokesperson, said exports had been going "smoothly" and were "increasing continuously" throughout the day.

Last week, the NOC lifted a force majeure which was declared in April at several oil facilities after tribal leaders, aligned with powerful commander Khalifa Hifter, shut them down.

The north African country's production was at 1.2 billion barrels a day earlier this year. But the closures caused Libya's daily output of oil to drop by two-thirds.

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