A source from the National Oil Corporation (NOC) told 218News that the Sharara oil field had been reopened and production operations had already begun, exceeding 100,000 barrels in the first hours, after the field had stopped for about two months as a result of protest closures.
The source suggested that the largest oil field in the country, which has a production capacity of about 280,000 barrels per day, will return to its normal levels by the end of this week, stressing that the technical teams are working with all their energy to ensure the flow of crude oil to the port of Al-Zawiya.
A number of protesters closed last April the Sharara field, along with the neighboring El Feel field and Zueitina oil port, demanding the overthrow of the head of the unity government, Abdel Hamid Dabaiba, and the takeover of power by the Bashagha government, in addition to the dismissal of the head of the NOC Mustafa Sanalla, as the oil closure led to Libya losing more than 50% of its oil production, estimated at 1.2 million barrels per day. This prompted the NOC to declare a state of force majeure, in light of a tendency to freeze the revenues of oil sales in the accounts of the Foreign Bank of Libya, until agreeing on a mechanism for managing returns.
