Libya suspends production at its largest oil field

The National Oil Corporation of Libya (NOC) on April 18 announced a state of force majeure at the country's largest field, Ash-Sharara, due to the stoppage of production.

According to TASS, this was stated in the NOC.

“The ongoing wave of closures, which has also affected Ash-Sharara, is forcing us to declare force majeure at the oil field until further notice,” NOC said. “In an absurd act that marks a new round of conflict in the country, a group of individuals put pressure on the workers of the Ash-Sharara oil field, forcing them to gradually stop production, which makes it impossible for the corporation to fulfil its contractual obligations.” This field produces 280,000 barrels of oil daily.

The day before, NOC announced the cessation of production and the state of force majeure at the El Fil field, which is fully dependent from electricity supplies from Ash-Sharara field. On Saturday, a group of people entered the El-Fil field and attempted to block it. As a result of this act of sabotage, production was completely stopped on Sunday, the company said, adding that it was therefore unable to fulfil its contractual obligations.