Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) stated that country’s total oil production had recently decreased to between 360,000 and 370,000b/d due to the ongoing attacks conducted by Islamic State on Libya’s oil infrastructure, Mustafa Sanalla, the NOC Chairman said, according to Zawya. He added that sometimes production drops to around 300,000b/d due to technical problems.

Sanalla was, however, optimistic that Libya’s total production could recover quickly under a unity government, with an additional 400,000b/d or more coming on stream from fields at El Sharara and El Feel in south-western Libya.

Libya currently refines about 100,000b/d of the total volumes for domestic consumption, with the rest being exported. The total crude production has dropped to less than 25% of the original 1.6mb/d that Libya was extracting in 2011.

Meanwhile, Islamic State’s attacks have damaged the oil storage tanks, with the most recent assault taking place at Ras Lanuf port in mid January, North Africa Post reported. According to Sanalla, the formation of a unity government will put an end to Islamic State’s attacks and help to fill the current power vacuum.