Libyan crude shipments increasing

Total crude oil exports from Libya jumped more than 20 percent compared with last week following tanker reservations by Royal Dutch Shell, shippers said. Royal Dutch Shell reserved two oil tankers to carry crude from Libya this week. Shipping companies Poten and Partners and Optima Shipbrokers estimate crude capacity at roughly 2.1 million barrels, Bloomberg News reports, citing shipping reports obtained by the companies. The latest shipping data represent a 21 percent increase from last week, Bloomberg notes. Libya, before the onset of the international military intervention in March, was producing close to 1.6 million barrels of oil per day, of which 1.3 million bpd was exported. The International Energy Agency, in its latest oil market report, said crude oil production in Libya rose from around 75,000 bpd in September to around 500,000 bpd in November. The IEA expected Libyan oil production to reach 800,000 bpd by the first quarter of 2012 and 1.17 million bpd by the end of next year.