Libya’s oil exports are unlikely to recover within two years

Maria van der Heven, the new executive director of the International Energy Agency, said on the 8th that before 2013, Libya’s oil exports may not return to normal.

“Our experts believe that Libya’s oil supply to the (international) market may be fully restored in 2013 or later, but it cannot be done before that.”

Vandehofen believes that to restore oil production, "stabilizing the political situation" is the top priority.

Libya is one of the major crude oil exporters in Africa. Before the opposition’s conflict with the Muammar Qaddafi regime broke out in February this year, Libya produced 1.6 million barrels of crude oil a day, of which 85% was exported to Europe.

Some analysts said that Libya's military conflict led to the stagnation of Libya's production of high quality light crude oil, which pushed up Brent crude oil prices.

Although the military conflict has not completely ended, some European oil companies have already involved Libya, including Italian Enni, French Total Petroleum and Spanish Repsol. These companies have dispatched or will soon send engineering personnel to assist Libya in repairing oil production facilities.