Libya Oil Production Set to Recover

Libyan oil production is set to recover from a five-month low as the North African supplier’s biggest field restarts following a brief halt.

A valve in the pipeline which carries crude from the Sharara field to the Zawiya refinery has been reopened and tested, said the state-run National Oil Corporation.

The stoppage occurred Friday night, the 19^th July, and authorities lifted a short-lived force majeure on loading Sharara crude at Zawiya on the 22^nd July.

Sharara, in Libya’s south-west, is currently producing 150,000 barrels a day.

The field’s output was previously 290,000 barrels a day and its shuttering had reduced overall daily production in the country with Africa’s largest proven oil reserves to about one million barrels, the OPEC member’s lowest since February.

An oil tanker, Monterey, is waiting at Zawiya port to load 700,000 barrels once force majeure is lifted.

The NOC condemned the “as yet unclaimed deliberate act of sabotage” which had stopped Sharara’s oil and said authorities were continuing to hunt the perpetrators.

Sharara has experienced brief shutdowns in recent years as some of Libya’s myriad armed groups press political or financial demands.

Source: Rigzone