Libya’s Sharara oil field closed since late Sunday

BENGHAZI / Reuters

Libya’s giant Sharara oil field has been closed since late on Sunday, shutting off the production of more than 230,000 barrels per day (bpd), an engineer at the field and a Libyan oil source said.
Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) said in a statement on Monday that it was “working towards a swift restart of production. At this moment, there are no plans to
declare force majeure.”
They did not disclose the reason for the shutdown but a trading source said it was linked to a protest over salary demands.
Sharara has been affected by repeated shutdowns or partial shutdowns this year caused by blockades imposed by armed groups, security problems and protests.
Sharara, which has been producing up to 280,000 bpd is crucial to a recovery in Libya’s oil output that saw production rise to above 1 million bpd in June, more than four times its level in mid-2016.
The engineer said Sharara was pumping some 236,000 bpd before the latest shutdown.
Libya is exempt from OPEC-led oil production cuts, and the North African country’s revival has complicated the bloc’s efforts to bolster global prices.
Libya was producing more than 1.6 million bpd before a 2011 uprising led to a political and armed conflict that badly disrupted its oil industry.
Production continues to be hampered by budget constraints and infrastructure damage, as well as groups that trigger shutdowns to press local demands.
NOC Chairman Mustafa Sanalla has campaigned against the blockades, touring the country to try to win over local groups.
“NOC restates its firm position that no demands can justify criminal shutting of production, and that NOC does not ever negotiate with such terrorist blockaders,” the NOC said in its statement on Monday.
Last month a group from southwest Libya, near Sharara, threatened to close the field over the detention in Tripoli of two members of a political delegation, though the two-day ultimatum they set passed without the field shutting.
Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) operates Sharara in partnership with oil companies Repsol,
Total, OMV and Statoil.

Port in Libya’s
Benghazi reopens
Benghazi’s commercial port officially reopened after a three-year closure due to fighting between rival factions in the east Libyan city.
To mark the opening Abdullah al-Thinni, prime minister of a government based in the east, arrived on board a tanker sent from the eastern city of Tobruk.
The port does not export oil, but imports gas and some petroleum products as well as general cargo, and local costs for these
would be reduced by the port’s
reopening, port spokesman Nasser
Al Maghrabi said.
“Today Benghazi port opened and a tanker from Tobruk entered as a message to the world that the port is safe and we are ready to receive tankers,” port manager Abdulazim Al-Abbar said by telephone.
“Until now we have not received notification of tankers arriving for exports and imports – for now we are starting up and waiting.”
Like Benghazi’s airport, the port had been closed since 2014 because of a conflict between forces loyal to eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar and an alliance of extremists and other opponents.
Haftar declared victory in early July, though isolated skirmishes continued. Benghazi airport
reopened in mid-July.