Libyan tribesmen, self-proclaimed as the Fezzan Anger Movement, protested on Saturday at el-Sharara oilfield and threatened to cease the production until their demands are fulfilled.
“As the force securing the field, we inform you that the Fezzan Anger Movement entered the field and stopped production in line with the demands of the movement,” the local oil force guarding Sharara oilfield said in a statement.
Fezzan is the historic name of the southern region of Libya where Sharara oilfield is located.
The movement demands securing of the road linking al-Jafra and al-Shuwairf towns to Fezzan, preserving Fezzan’s water and oil resources, and providing basic medical needs including equipment for Fezzan’s hospitals, according to the group’s spokesperson Mohammad Maighal.
Living conditions in Fezzan have deteriorated over years due to tribal clashes and a lack of security.
The field in Libya’s remote southwest produces around 300,000 barrels per day (bpd). It has suffered shutdowns caused by security problems, including raids, kidnappings and blockages by tribesmen and state-paid guards.
In October, a small group of Libyan tribesmen staged a protest at the southern Sharara oilfield, threatening to shut down production unless their living conditions improved.
Production at Sharara oil field fell by at least 160,000 bpd in July after two workers were abducted in an attack by an unidentified group.
To protest pollution caused by the field, a local landowner shut down the oil field by closing a valve near a pipeline crossing his land.
“We closed the pipeline last year for the same reason. A number of mediators had intervened to persuade me to reopen it within 20 days to clean the land, but unfortunately the same thing has happened all over again ,” Hassan Mohamed al-Hadi, a landowner in the western Zintan area told Reuters.
