Benchmark oil prices are declining on Monday morning after production resumed at Libya’s largest field.
Quotations of March futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange as of 7:11 a.m. amounted to $78.23 per barrel, which is $0.33 (0.42%) below the level at the close of the previous trading. On Friday, these contracts fell by $0.54 (0.7%) to $78.56 per barrel.
Prices for February futures for WTI in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) decreased by $0.25 (0.34%) to $73.16 per barrel. As a result of the previous trading, the price of these contracts fell by $0.67 (0.9%) to $73.41 per barrel. February contracts will expire at the close of the market on Monday. Futures for March, which are traded more actively, are cheaper by $0.31 (0.42%) to $72.94 per barrel.
Last week, Brent rose by 0.3%, WTI by 1%.
On Sunday, the Libyan National Oil Corporation announced the lifting of the force majeure regime and the full resumption of production at the Ash Sharara field, which has a capacity of 300 thousand barrels per day.
The force majeure regime was in effect since January 7 due to protests that led to the suspension of supplies from the field to the Zawiya export terminal.