Libya's state-owned NOC has called on workers to end strike action at fields in the east of the country, and to maintain production at the highest technical rate possible given the falling oil price, which is denting Libyan crude revenues.
Strikes continue at three Libyan oil fields as workers demand improved working conditions and other protesters urge NOC to provide hundreds of jobs for locals.
The sharp drop in the global oil price, which has lost 20% of its value in the past four months, has "negatively affected the state budget," NOC said in a statement on its website.
"The decline in crude oil prices on the global market to very low levels is reflected in the income of all producing countries and oil exporters, including the state of Libya, given that exports of crude oil is the only source of income for the Libyan state," NOC said.
"NOC calls on all workers in the oil and gas sector to work to maintain production rates at technically possible limits," it said, adding that all Libyans should look to limit fuel consumption.
"NOC also calls on Libyans to cease sit-ins at oil facilities in order to secure fixed incomes for the public treasury to meet the requirements of the country in these difficult times," it said.
To add to the confusion, the NOC website is currently reported to be controlled by a rival Libyan government set up recently in Tripoli, and not the officially elected administration currently in exile in eastern Libya.
The website carries a photograph of the rival government's oil minister, Mashallah al-Zawie, not that of the official government's minister, Mustafa Sanalla.
Libya produced an average of 780,000 b/d of crude in September, 230,000 b/d more than August's 550,000 b/d, according to a recent Platts survey.
September saw the highest volume since July last year when production fell to 1 million b/d as a series of strikes and protests shut in fields and facilities.
Production ramped up quickly in September after key export terminals Es Sider and Ras Lanuf reopened, reaching 925,000 b/d at the end of the month.
However, new strike action in the east of the country has pushed output back to around 765,000 b/d.
Libyan production had been running close to 1.6 million b/d in early 2011 before the beginning of the bloody uprising against Moammar Qadhafi, fell to negligible levels that summer and eventually recovered to 1.4 million b/d in early 2013.
