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Opec wants an orderly recovery in oil production from Libya, Nigeria and Iran and has a flexible output target under its cuts agreement to accommodate more crude from the three member nations, the groups secretary-general Mohammad Barkindo said. The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries was anticipating a revival in production from the three when it set a targeted output range from 32.5mn bpd to 33mn bpd under its November agreement, Barkindo told Bloomberg Television last week at a conference in Istanbul. Nigeria will support a cap on its production, the countrys Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Emmanuel Kachikwu told reporters in the capital Abuja. What we would like to see is an orderly recovery that would not disrupt significantly the re-balancing of the market, which is a very delicate process which has taken longer than expected because of the change in fundamentals, Barkindo said. By setting a range for the production ceiling, Opec was making provisions for the expected recovery of production from Libya, Nigeria and Iran, he said. Opec decided in November to reduce its output by 1.2mn bpd to 32.5mn starting January 1 to clear a global glut. Other producers including Russia joined the deal, which was extended through March 2018. Libya and Nigeria were both exempted from the cuts due to their internal strife, while Iran was allowed to raise production by 90,000 bpd as it was recovering from sanctions. Crude slid into a bear market last month amid concerns that cutbacks by Opec and allied producers are being partially offset by a rebound in supply from Libya and Nigeria and by US shale output. Benchmark Brent crude has dropped 17% this year. Opec pumped 32.6mn bpd in June, and its output exceeded demand in the first half of this year, according to a report the group issued last Wednesday. Compliance with the curbs needed to clear a global inventory surplus has faltered to its lowest level since they began in January, the International Energy Agency said on Thursday. Dramatic improvement in output from Libya and Nigeria diluted Opecs actual supply cut of 920,000 bpd in June, almost halving it to 470,000, the IEA said in a report. If Libya can sustain current production of about 1mn bpd, Nigeria builds on recent gains and the rest of Opec holds output steady, then the groups cuts could be eroded in July to less than 300,000 bpd, the Paris-based agency said. Libya and Nigeria may be asked to cap their output soon in an effort to help re-balance the market, Kuwaiti Oil Minister Issam Almarzooq said on July 10. Both African nations are expected to send representatives to the next meeting of the Opec and non-Opec Joint Technical Committee on July 22 in Russia, Barkindo said. Opec recognises that Libya, Nigeria, and Iran have faced severe challenges, and it welcomes their increased production, he said. We are glad these countries are recovering fast. Nigerias output limit would come into play when the nation can pump at a stable rate of 1.8mn bpd, about 100,000 more than its currently producing, Kachikwu said. We still are below the 1.8mn bpd benchmark set for us by Opec, he said. I think that over the next one or two months, hopefully, we can get to that point where we can say the recovery has been tested, it is systemic and predictable. Nigeria will miss an Opec ministerial committee meeting in Russia scheduled for July 24, but Kachikwu plans to meet with Saudi Arabia and Russia after that, he said. Libyas output has risen to 1.05mn bpd, or 45,000 bpd more than the country was pumping at the beginning of July, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified for lack of authorisation to speak to the media. The nations output is at the highest level since June 2013, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The global cuts accord between Opec and non-Opec producers faced headwinds in the first quarter this year and didnt cause crude stockpiles to decline fast enough, Barkindo said. The current market downturn is lasting longer than previous slumps, due largely to 700,000 bpd to 800,000 bpd of additional supply from the US, he said.

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Opec can absorb 'orderly recovery from Libya, Nigeria and Iran' - Gulf Times

Libya wins three medals at weightlifting championship The Libya Observer The Libyan weightlifter Hani Matouq won two gold and one silver medals during his participation in the African Weightlifting Championship held in Mauritius. More than 15 African countries took part in the championship which saw Matouq take the gold ... and more »

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Libya wins three medals at weightlifting championship - The Libya Observer

BENGHAZI, Libya A series of military victories over extremist Islamic groups along Libyas Mediterranean coastline has forced hundreds of militants, including Islamic State fighters, to seek refuge in the vast deserts of the North African nation, already home to militias from neighboring countries, cross-border criminal gangs and mercenaries.

Libyas lawless, desolate center and south provides a sanctuary for militants to reorganize, recruit, train and potentially plot for a comeback. That is especially important at a time when the Islamic State group lost not only its urban holdings in Libya but is crumbling in Iraq and Syria.

In Libyas remote stretches near the borders with Egypt, Sudan, Chad, Algeria, Niger and Tunisia, multiple armed groups already operate freely. Arms are easily available. Human trafficking and cross-border smuggling, especially fuel, are rampant and lucrative.

Lack of effective border controls has allowed militiamen fighting the Sudanese and Chadian governments to set up camp inside Libya. Alongside them came soldiers-for-hire from places as far afield as Cameroon. Tribal and ethnic rivalries frequently boil over into deadly strife.

Militants travel back and forth near the southern borders and all the way to the central parts of the country, robbing travelling cars and attacking civilians, said Brig. Gen. Abdullah Nouredeen of the Libyan National Army. They sometimes work close to the borders since there is money to be made from smuggling and arms trading.

The migration of the militants comes after rivals drove them out of coastal cities like Sirte, Benghazi, Sebratha and Derna. Their dispersion into the desert undermines prospects for a return of stability in oil-rich Libya.

Claudia Gazzini, the International Crisis Groups senior Libya analyst, said IS militants were generally lying low in the desert south of the coastline, moving in small convoys so as not to attract attention or just going home. Others, she explained, were active around Sirte, staging occasional attacks against their adversaries.

Going forward, she said, IS remnants will likely try to influence and win over groups opposed to Gen. Khalifa Hifter, the Egyptian-backed commander of Libyas national army who has been fighting militants.

We are already seeing signs that this may have already happened, she said.

Sensing danger, Egypt has begun to closely monitor its borders with Sudan and Libya, fearing the area could turn into a major staging ground for attacks inside its territory. Egypt has said IS militants fighting its security forces in the Sinai Peninsula receive arms and fighters from Libya. It said militants behind recent deadly attacks against Christians were trained in Libya and sneaked into Egypt across the porous desert border.

Like the rest of Libya, the desert towns and villages in the countrys central and southern regions have seen law and order vanish since the 2011 ouster and death of dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Across the country, militias many of them with Islamist ideologies have carved out fiefdoms, imposing their will on local administrations.

Some estimates put the number of full-time militiamen in Libya at around 120,000 and IS fighters around 1,000, but there is no way to independently verify these figures.

Gen. Hifter has sought to drive out Islamic militants and bring the center and south under his control but with limited success. He said he intends to seal off Libyas borders with Egypt, Sudan and Chad by early July to stop the flow of arms, fighters and migrants.

It is widely believed, however, that his forces dont have the resources to enforce order in the vast region or take on the hardened militants and militiamen there.

In a sign of desperation over deteriorating security, Libyas national oil company halted shipments to the south, after a series of hijackings of convoys delivering fuel. Invariably, the fuel surfaced later in the black market or in neighboring countries.

The following are key geographical locations for the militants and armed groups:

Zamzam Valley

Zamzam Valley is south of Misrata about 30 miles from the coast. Scores of IS militants found refuge there after they were defeated last year by militiamen loyal to the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli after a months-long battle. IS fighters in Zamzam Valley occasionally launch attacks against Misrata, the hometown of the militia that drove them out of Sirte, as well as kidnap travelers or attacks checkpoints.

Al-Awaynat

This location in the remote southeastern corner of Libya close to the borders of Egypt and Sudan has become something of a mercenaries central because of the hundreds of guns-for hire stationed there. The men, mostly from Chad, Niger and Cameroon, are hired mostly to fight under the banners of different militias. They make an average of $2,000 a month when hired. Militias and criminal groups in al-Awaynat, meanwhile, make money from human trafficking, kidnappings for ransom and smuggling of weapons, drugs and fuel.

Al-Kufra

Small cells of IS and al-Qaida fighters are believed to have moved to the outskirts of this oasis city in southeast Libya in recent months. Al-Kufra has for decades been torn by a deadly conflict pitting the Arab Alzway tribes against the sub-Saharan African Tabu group, which inhabits a large swath of territory stretching across northern Chad, southern Libya, northwestern Sudan and northeastern Niger.

Alzway dominate the city and accuse the Tabu of harboring criminals and militants from Sudan and Chad. The Tabu deny the charges. Militias from both sides are involved in tit-for-tat raids that often target civilians. The conflict is widely seen as a rivalry over control of border crossings and lucrative smuggling routes.

Two brigades from Hifters Libyan National Army are stationed at al-Kufra, but they dont have the manpower or resources to enforce law and order in the vast desert area.

Sabha

Most of the hundreds of militants who managed to flee the assault on Sirte last year are thought to have made it near this town in central Libya.

It was a perfect destination. The city is virtually out of control, with several ongoing conflicts. The main players are Awlad Suleiman, an ethnically Arab tribe, and the Tabu and Twareg, all of whom have for years been vying for a bigger slice of the smuggling trade.

Anti-government militiamen from Sudan and Chad provide a pool of mercenaries for any armed group. They are also involved in cross-border arms smuggling, according to local politician Youssef Kalourki.

IS fighters in the area keep a low profile, spending most of their time in valleys and mountains outside the city.

In May, forces loyal to Hifter seized a nearby air base and several localities. It was a significant victory, but Hifters forces remain a long way away from controlling the region.

Ubari

This town southwest of Sabha saw fierce fighting among rival criminal gangs in 2015 that displaced almost the entire population. The hostilities were triggered by an attempt by several militias to control the black market in subsidized fuel provided by the Tripoli government.

Radical militant groups in the area, including al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, are known to be involved in the illicit trade, selling the fuel in neighboring countries for at least 10 times the price in Libya. (AP)

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Militants find sanctuary in Libya's wild south | News | phillytrib.com - The Philadelphia Tribune

BENGHAZI, LIBYA (Reuters) - Benghazi's international airport officially reopened for commercial flights amid a heavy security presence on Saturday (July 15) after a three-year closure due to fighting in the city.

The first outward bound flights from Benina Airport were to the capital, Tripoli, to Amman, Jordan, and to the south-eastern Libyan city of Kufra. Flights are also scheduled to and from Tunis, Istanbul, Alexandria, and the western Libyan city of Zintan.

The flights are operated by two state-owned companies, Libyan Airlines and Afriqiyah Airways.

Benina is just east of Benghazi, Libya's second city, where fighting escalated in the summer of 2014 when forces loyal to eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar launched a military campaign against Islamists and other opponents.

Earlier this month, Haftar declared victory in the campaign as his forces battled rivals in their last downtown holdouts.

Travellers and airport staff expressed relief at no longer having to travel to Labraq airport, a four-hour drive east of Benghazi, which had replaced Benina as the main airport for the eastern part of the country.

In recent months, some official and cargo flights had already been flying from Benina. There is also a military airport at Benina, which continued operating throughout the conflict as Haftar's forces targeted their rivals with air strikes.

Tripoli's international airport was badly damaged by fighting in 2014, and flights have since operated out of the smaller Mitiga airport near the centre of the capital.

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Libya's Benghazi airport reopens after 3-year closure during war - The Straits Times

DUBAI -- OPEC member Kuwait said on Friday it would be premature to cap Nigerian and Libyan oil production as the two African countries' output needed to stabilize further.

The market is on a recovery track due to rising global demand, Kuwait's OPEC governor Haitham Al-Ghais told Reuters.

In an effort to eradicate a supply glut, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is curbing output by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) until March 2018, while Russia and other non-OPEC producers are cutting half as much.

But oil prices have fallen more than 15 per cent this year due to still-booming supplies and stubbornly high global stocks, which remain way above OPEC targets despite the cut agreement.

A ministerial committee from OPEC and non-OPEC countries, which is headed by Gulf OPEC member Kuwait, meets in Russia on July 24 to discuss compliance with the cuts, from which Nigeria and Libya are exempt due to years of output-sapping unrest.

"All this talk about putting a production cap on Libya and Nigeria is premature," Al-Ghais said. "Data so far is showing that the real spike in production only happened in June."

The official added that output had increased on average by between 300,000 and 500,000 bpd from the two countries combined since the start of the supply-cutting agreement in January 2017.

He said representatives from Libya and Nigeria had been invited to a technical OPEC/non-OPEC committee meeting on July 22 ahead of the ministerial gathering, to give presentations on production from both countries.

"We have to look at the sustainability and stability of production from those countries," said Al-Ghais, who also heads the technical committee. "We need to wait and see more production data before we can make any decision."

The technical committee could make recommendations on Nigeria and Libya, which the ministerial committee would then review. The latter cannot take production decisions but can make recommendations to OPEC and other participating producers, which are scheduled to meet formally in November.

Al-Ghais said that despite production increases from Libya and Nigeria, there were signs of market rebalancing including U.S. government data showing a large drop in stockpiles.

"We feel that the market is on the right way of correcting itself," he said. "Demand will pick up and we expect to see stronger demand in the third quarter."

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Premature to cap Libya, Nigeria oil output: Kuwait's OPEC governor - BNN