Libya’s Nationwide Oil Company announced that crude oil production would resume in two of its main fields, where operations had stopped in August due to tensions between the country’s authorities.
CAIRO — Libya’s state-owned oil company announced Thursday that it was resuming full oil production, almost two months after halting operations in two of its main fields due to a political crisis.
The Nationwide Oil Company announced in a statement that it would take over production from the Sharara and El-Really oil fields, as well as exports from Es Sider, the country’s largest port. In August, the company declared “pressure majeure,” a legal maneuver that allows a company to terminate its contracts due to extraordinary circumstances.
As part of the review of the major pressure scenario, NOC confirmed in its press release that it “can resume crude oil manufacturing operations and export operations to its customers”.
The Nationwide Oil Company previously blamed the shutdown on the Fezzan Movement, a native protest group. It came as the country’s rival authorities grappled with a dispute over the governance of the Central Bank, which distributes the country’s oil revenues.
In August, the UN warned that the country was poised to face even greater instability due to the dispute. But that was resolved in recent days, when the country’s parliament appointed a new governor to the bank.
Libya produces more than 1.2 million barrels of oil per day and Sharara is the country’s largest field producing up to 300,000 barrels per day.
The oil-rich country has been plagued by political unrest since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Since then, Libya has been divided between rival administrations at east and west, each supported by foreign militias and governments. .
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