A Trafigura-operated suezmax tanker is scheduled to lift Libyan crude later this week after National Oil Corp (NOC) partially lifted force majeure on the war-torn country’s exports.
The 150,000-dwt Marlin Shikoku (built 2019) is set to load 1m barrels of Sarir crude from the eastern terminal of Marsa al Hariga on Thursday, Kpler data suggests.
The vessel is one of the suezmaxes ordered by China’s Bank of Communications Financial Leasing on the back of long-term charters to Trafigura.
Reuters reported the ship will be lifting a cargo that was sold to Unipec, the trading arm of Chinese state major Sinopec. It was not immediately known whether Trafigura has sublet the suezmax to Unipec.
The trading giant declined to comment on the lifting. TradeWinds has approached Sinopec for comment.
The latest development came after state-owned NOC announced via its Facebook account on Saturday that force majeure was lifted on oil ports and fields it deemed safe.
“Our primary concern is to start production and exports by taking into account the safety of workers and operations and also to prevent any attempts to politicise the national oil sector,” the company said.
NOC stressed that it would retain restrictions on Libyan oil facilities infiltrated by armed groups, including Russia’s Wagner, which backs renegade general Khalifa Haftar.
But the company did not specify which facilities are safe. Over the weekend, it announced that the Sirte field has resumed oil and gas production.
There are reports that Arabian Gulf Oil Co — a NOC subsidiary — plans to resume exports from Hariga and that foreign mercenaries continue to gather around Es Sider and Ras Lanuf.
Since January, Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA) had blockaded the eastern terminals of Es Sider, Ras Lanuf, Zueitina, Brega and Hariga to exert pressure on Tripoli.
The only known crude shipment from the terminals this year was on the 106,074-dwt Kriti Bastion (built 2003), which lifted from Es Sider in early July.
Hess chartered Minerva Marine’s 104,000-dwt Minerva Eleonora (built 2004) to lift from the same port on 10 September, but it remains uncertain when the loading operation will be completed.
Following the progress in peace talks between the LNA and the United Nations-recognised Government of National Accord, Haftar announced on Friday that he would lift the blockage for one month assuming that oil revenue can be distributed fairly.
“There is still a long and winding road to a full recovery in Libya’s battered oil sector, where 1m bpd still remains shut-in due to the blockades of the oil infrastructure from ports to fields,” Rystad Energy head of oil markets Bjornar Tonhaugen wrote in his daily note.
The resumption of Libyan oil exports will provide more employment opportunities for aframaxes and suezmaxes in the Mediterranean.
