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(Bloomberg) -- Libyan oil oil rig flanges gulf coast production is set to recover from a five-month low as the North African supplier’s biggest field restarts following a brief halt.
A valve in the pipeline that carries crude from the Sharara field to the Zawiya refinery has been reopened and tested, said the state-run National Oil Corp. The stoppage occurred Friday night, and authorities lifted a short-lived force majeure on loading Sharara crude at Zawiya on Monday.
Sharara, in Libya’s southwest, is currently producing 150,000 barrels a day, according to two people familiar with the situation who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t yet public.
The field’s output was previously 290,000 barrels a day and its shuttering had reduced overall daily oil rig flanges gulf coast production in the country with Africa’s largest proven oil reserves to about 1 million barrels, the OPEC member’s lowest since February.
An oil tanker, Monterey, is waiting at Zawiya port to load 700,000 barrels once force majeure is lifted, said a person with direct knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified because he isn’t authorized to speak to the media.
The NOC condemned the “as yet unclaimed deliberate act of sabotage” that had stopped Sharara’s oil and said authorities were continuing to hunt the perpetrators. Sharara has experienced brief shutdowns in recent years as some of Libya’s myriad armed groups press political or financial demands.
To contact the reporters on this story:
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Hatem Mohareb in Benghazi at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Nayla Razzouk at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Michael Gunn, Amanda Jordan
