Exclusive: Glencore loses exclusive marketing rights to two Libyan crude grades

By Julia Payne and Ahmad Ghaddar

LONDON (Reuters) - Trading and mining giant Glencore has lost its exclusive marketing rights for two of Libya's main crude oil export grades after holding those rights since the end of 2015, trading sources with direct knowledge said.

China's Unipec has been allocated three cargoes of that crude in January, according to one of the sources.

Glencore declined to comment and Libya's National Oil Corp (NOC) did not immediately comment.

Glencore initially won the rights to the oil as it was one of the few traders willing to deal with the risks associated with Libya's unrest, including Islamic State incursions and a crippling port blockade that slashed the country's output.

Currently, Libya produces 953,000 barrels per day (bpd), down from a pre-civil war capacity of 1.6 million bpd, NOC Chairman Mustafa Sanalla said on Sunday.

(Reporting by Julia Payne and Ahmad Ghaddar; editing by Jason Neely)