(Bloomberg) -- Libya’s state oil company said it is “hopeful” that negotiations over the past few weeks with the United Nations-recognized government in Tripoli, the U.S. and other powers will end a blockade of almost all the North African country’s crude exports.

The National Oil Corp. is “determined that the agreement will guarantee transparency and that oil revenues will achieve social justice for all Libyans,” a spokesman said in a statement to Bloomberg.

“The corporation also intends the agreement will include solutions to protect the oil facilities and make sure they are never used as a military target or a political bargaining chip again,” the spokesman, who did not want to be identified, said.

The OPEC member’s exports plummeted early this year to less than 100,000 barrels a day from 1.1 million after supporters of Khalifa Haftar, a rebel commander based in the east, shut down oil fields and ports.

The NOC said on Friday that Russian and other mercenaries had entered the operations complex of Sharara, the nation’s biggest oil field, to prevent production being restarted.

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