Libya’s major Sharara field: Certain Libya oil facilities have restarted operations

Two engineers working at Libya’s major Sharara field reported that workers have restarted operations after that National Oil Corporation (NOC) declared a partial lifting of force majeure. They declared that flaring had resumed at the field and they shared a video about this, and they added that engineers returned to the area since Wednesday. Actually, it wasn’t clear when production could resume, and there was no instant comment from the NOC.

Moreover, two other NOC companies reported that they had announced directives to staff to begin working for preparation to start production as soon as possible.

It should be noted that the oil sector of Libya was completely quiet since January when forces loyal to Khalifa Haftar based on eastern executed a blockade on energy exports during their defeated attack on Tripoli. Haftar reported on Friday that the blockade would be stopped however NOC has required that his forces and allied mercenaries that it declares they constitute a danger to its staff should leave all oil buildings.

In recent years, the Sharara field has been disturbed by security problems, which have caused duplicated full or partial closings. While the field is managed by the NOC in a joint object with Spain’s Repsol, France’s Total, Austria’s OMV, and Norway’s Equinor.

Otherwise, Arabian Gulf Oil Co (AGOCO), which is a NOC company that had been producing around 300,000 barrels per day early last year, reported that it was given an order to its staff to begin operations to prepare for a restarting in production as soon as possible. Another NOC company, Sirte Oil Co also declared that it had published a directive to all staff to use the necessary measures for preparing to the begin of output as soon as possible.