MOSCOW, February 21. /TASS/. Russia’s top oil producer Rosneft and Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) signed a cooperation framework agreement that lays the groundwork for Rosneft investments in the Libyan oil sector. The agreement was signed by NOC Chairman Mustafa Sanalla and Rosneft Chairman Igor Sechin on February 20 on the sidelines of London’s International Petroleum Week, the Libyan company reported Tuesday.
"The agreement envisages the establishment of a joint working committee of the two partners to evaluate opportunities in a variety of sectors, including exploration and production," the report said. Rosneft and NOC also signed a crude oil offtake agreement.
"This agreement with Russia’s largest oil company lays the foundations for us jointly to identify areas of cooperation. Working with NOC, Rosneft and Russia can play an important and constructive role in Libya," Sanalla was quoted as saying. "We need the assistance and investment of major international oil companies to reach our production goals and stabilize our economy," he added.
Libya is one of three OPEC member-states spared from the need to reduce crude oil production within the cartel’s output cap plan in the first half of this year. OPEC and 11 independent oil producers have agreed to cut output by a total of 1.8 mln barrels per day starting January 1, 2017. However, Iran, Nigeria and Libya were permitted not to cap and even to increase oil production due to a complicated political environment in those countries.
Libyan authorities have said the plan for 2017 is to boost crude production 1.7-fold to 1.75 mln barrels per day.