Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) named 10 companies that will get priority access to term supplies of its crude oil in 2012, including traditional buyers among European refiners that stood by the country's new leaders in its civil war. A senior source at the NOC said that the following companies would definitely receive crude oil volumes next year: Repsol , Total, Eni, Royal Dutch Shell , OMV, ConocoPhillips, Saras, BP, Galp and Exxon Mobil.
"We will give priority to all these companies," said the source, adding that the full list will be published on the NOC's website in the next few days. Oil traders at two firms on the list confirmed that they had been contacted by the NOC, but did not disclose exact volumes. An industry source also said that Italian refiners ERG and Api also received some supplies.
Libya was Africa's third largest producer before the war, pumping around 1.6 million barrels per day and exporting about 1.3 million bpd, mostly to European clients. The country's oil output has hit 1 million barrels per day, its oil minister said earlier this week after an Opec meeting, in a further sign of its more rapid than expected recovery after an eight-month long conflict.