An official source in the Petroleum Facilities Guard told AFP on Tuesday that “the oil fields in the southwest region have been open since late Monday night, in addition to reopening the valves for gas transportation and transporting crude to the export ports in the west of the country at dawn on Tuesday.”
The source, one of the leaders of the guards responsible for the closure, added, “The government listened to our legitimate demands, which are financial demands for the guards, and technical demands related to providing emergency needs to continue our tasks, as we have been working in difficult circumstances for years.”
The National Oil Corporation (governmental) did not comment on the reopening of the fields so far.
But the interim Libyan government confirmed that its president, Hamid Dabaiba, directed the “immediate reopening” of the four fields.
And the government confirmed in a press statement on Tuesday night that “the Prime Minister listened to the demands of the Petroleum Facilities Guard, and formed a committee to follow up on the difficulties they face in carrying out their work.”
The government also published pictures showing representatives of the Petroleum Facilities Guard in their military uniforms, during their meeting with Prime Minister Dabaiba at the government headquarters in the capital, Tripoli.
In this context, the Oil Corporation announced the closure of the “Al-Sidra” port in eastern Libya due to bad weather and the inability of shipping tankers to supply crude from the port.
The corporation said in a press statement that “bad weather conditions made it impossible to connect the tankers to the port, forcing them to reduce production rates by 50 thousand barrels, and the continuation of bad weather conditions may lead to a greater reduction in daily production to reach 105 thousand barrels.”
The corporation blamed what it described as “the parties” that stand in the way of financing the oil sector and liquidating the necessary budgets.
On December 20, the oil facilities guards closed four oil fields (Al-Hamada, Al-Feel, Al-Wafa and Al-Sharara), and also closed the valves for transporting gas from the fields towards the west of the country, demanding financial and logistical resources for them.
The closure caused production losses of more than 300,000 barrels per day, nearly a third of the country’s daily production, which is about 1.2 million barrels per day, according to the National Oil Corporation.
The closure triggered the declaration of “force majeure” by the NOC. It represents a “temporary” suspension of work, and the protection provided by law to the Corporation in the face of legal liability resulting from non-fulfillment of foreign oil contracts due to events beyond the control of the contracting parties.
The four fields are of great importance to oil interests in western Libya.
The Wafa field, located 500 km southwest of Tripoli, transports huge supplies of gas to the Mellitah Oil and Gas Company complex west of Tripoli, which is operated by the Italian energy company Eni in partnership with Libya.
The complex itself transports gas supplies to Italy via a huge offshore pipeline connecting it with Libya. In addition to transferring most of the production of the El Sharara oil field through valves to the port of Al-Zawiya, west of Tripoli.
The Sharara field is managed by the “Akacus” company of the Libyan National Oil Corporation, Spain’s Repsol, France’s Total, Austria’s OMV and Norway’s Statoil.
The Sharara field is located in Ubari, about 900 km south of Tripoli. It is the largest oil field in Libya and produces a maximum of 315,000 barrels per day.
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