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Libya: Broken Pipeline Causes Crude Spill

The Arabian Gulf Oil Company estimates that some 22,000 barrels a day were being lost from the leak. Reuters
The Arabian Gulf Oil Company estimates that some 22,000 barrels a day were being lost from the leak. Reuters
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Libya: Broken Pipeline Causes Crude Spill

The Arabian Gulf Oil Company estimates that some 22,000 barrels a day were being lost from the leak. Reuters
The Arabian Gulf Oil Company estimates that some 22,000 barrels a day were being lost from the leak. Reuters

A pipeline rupture in Libya is spewing thousands of barrels of oil into the desert, as workers scramble to seal off the leak, authorities said Wednesday.

The damage to a land pipeline linking the Sarir oil field to the Tobruk terminal on the Mediterranean was the latest blow to Libya’s struggling oil industry.

The Arabian Gulf Oil Company, which operates the pipeline, estimates that some 22,000 barrels a day were being lost from the leak, which started Tuesday. It posted footage of the spill and said efforts to stop it were still underway.

The company, which is an affiliate of the state-run National Oil Corporation and based in the eastern city of Benghazi, blamed lack of pipeline maintenance for the leakage.

The spill comes as crucial oil facilities including the country’s biggest field were still closed amid a political impasse that threatens a return of violence.

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Exports from Libya's Hariga Oil Port Stop as Crude Supply Dries Up, Say Engineers

A general view of an oil terminal in Zueitina, west of Benghazi April 7, 2014. (Reuters)
A general view of an oil terminal in Zueitina, west of Benghazi April 7, 2014. (Reuters)
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Exports from Libya's Hariga Oil Port Stop as Crude Supply Dries Up, Say Engineers

A general view of an oil terminal in Zueitina, west of Benghazi April 7, 2014. (Reuters)
A general view of an oil terminal in Zueitina, west of Benghazi April 7, 2014. (Reuters)

The Libyan oil export port of Hariga has stopped operating due to insufficient crude supplies, two engineers at the terminal told Reuters on Saturday, as a standoff between rival political factions shuts most of the country's oilfields.

This week's flare-up in a dispute over control of the central bank threatens a new bout of instability in the North African country, a major oil producer that is split between eastern and western factions.

The eastern-based administration, which controls oilfields that account for almost all the country's production, are demanding western authorities back down over the replacement of the central bank governor - a key position in a state where control over oil revenue is the biggest prize for all factions.

Exports from Hariga stopped following the near-total shutdown of the Sarir oilfield, the port's main supplier, the engineers said.

Sarir normally produces about 209,000 barrels per day (bpd). Libya pumped about 1.18 million bpd in July in total.

Libya's National Oil Corporation NOC, which controls the country's oil resources, said on Friday the recent oilfield closures have caused the loss of approximately 63% of total oil production.