Glencore reportedly signs oil deal with Libya

Glencore has reportedly agreed a deal to buy as much as half of the oil Libya currently exports as it looks to offset declining profits from mining.

Reuters cited unnamed market sources as saying that as part of the agreement with Libya’s state-run National Oil Corp (NOC), which began in September, the commodities trader loads and finds buyers for all the Sarir and Messla crude oil exported from the Marsa el-Hariga port near the country’s eastern border with Egypt.

It said that for war-torn, cash-strapped Libya, the deal offers steady sales to international buyers and shifts to Glencore the risks associated with loading oil and chartering vessels at ports where operations have become more unpredictable due to the conflict in the north African nation.

Libyan oil exports peaked at 1.6m barrels per day, but battles between rival factions looking to control the country, as well as strikes and blockades by local tribes, have kept production under 0.5 million barrels of oil equivalent per day for most of this year.

At 1210 GMT, Glencore shares were up 2.5% at 96.41p.