Petroleum Africa
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Friday, October 18, 2013
Wintershall’s production took a hit this year from having its two onshore concessions shut in due to the blockade of the eastern oil terminals. Not only has the civil crisis in Libya affected production but the company also saw a 10% drop in output during Q2 due to planned field maintenance.
The German firm’s production stood at 73,000 bpd during Q2, compared with 80,000 bpd for the same period in 2012.
A Wintershall spokesman told the Libya Herald “It is currently unclear when the blockade of the export terminals will be lifted and how quickly production in the Libyan Desert can be resumed.” The spokesman went on to say that the firm was using the interruption to carry out more maintenance work and tests. “We are in close contact with the NOC and other companies. However, Wintershall does not have any influence on the solution to the current situation.”
The company has been trying to raise its production back to the levels it was producing at prior to the civil war that ousted longtime leader Muammar Qaddafi, but security concerns have hurt the readiness of service firms to send their employees into the country.
Wintershall admitted this was a problem. “At the moment the return of some of the necessary expertise and services to Libya is being delayed because of security concerns. We would like to reach the pre-crisis production level of 100,000 bpd again as quickly as possible. It is not currently possible to say when this will happen.”
The spokesman also noted that there continued to be limits to the export infrastructure, despite the availability of a new replacement pipeline – owing to protests and strikes, most of them the loading terminals.
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