Libya's giant Sharara oilfield has been shut days after it restarted following a long blockade, the National Oil Corporation (NOC) and a field engineer said on Tuesday, noting that efforts are underway to reopen it again.
NOC said in a statement on Tuesday that an ‘armed force’ entered the Sharara oilfield and told employees to shut the oilfield, hours after maintenance operations started.
It said that it had told employees not to obey the order regarding the field operations and warned any party from attacking it's employees.
The latest shutdown was caused by forces affiliated with Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army.
Production at Sharara, which previously had an output of around 300,000 barrels per day (bpd), had been resuming gradually since Saturday after a pipeline valve that was closed since January was reopened, allowing oil output to flow.
Sharara field itself was not blockaded but NOC said an armed militia had prevented maintenance on a 16,000-barrel tank, which collapsed as a result.
NOC runs Sharara in a joint venture with Spain's Repsol , France's Total, Austria's OMV and Norway's Equinor. NOC announced the lifting of force majeure on production at Sharara and at El Feel field on Monday.
Earlier, the US Embassy in Libya welcomed the initial reopening of Sharara oilfield.
"The Embassy welcomes the announcement by the National Oil Corporation (NOC) that it is resuming production at the critical Sharara oil field, a significant step forward as the NOC fulfills its crucial and apolitical mandate to promote the interests of all Libyans," the embassy said in a statement.
"The needless, five-month long shutdown of Libya's energy sector and the targeting of NOC personnel and facilities must end on a nationwide basis," added the statement.
"Now is the time for all responsible parties to reject attempts to militarize the energy sector, divide Libya's economic institutions, and subjugate critical infrastructure to foreign interests."
