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· The National Oil Corporation (NOC) of Libya announced the resumption of the El Sharara field – the largest oil field in the country
· Earlier in the week, NOC has lifted the status of “force majeure” signally that a decision was taken to restart the oil drilling
· El Sahara is Libya’s largest oil field located in the Murzuq Desert, south west of the country. The oil field accounts for about a third of Libya’s crude oil production
· it is reported to have reserves of nearly 3 billion barrels of oil
The National Oil Corporation (NOC) of Libya announced the resumption of the El Sharara field – the largest oil field in the country. Earlier in the week, NOC has lifted the status of “force majeure” signally that a decision was taken to restart oil drilling.
The NOC had given instructions to start production arrangements, after reaching an “honour agreement” between forces loyal to eastern Libya strongman Khalifa Haftar. The agreement seeks to end all obstacles for oil drilling. This is a positive outcome of the consultations between the two warring segments, under the auspices of the United Nations Mission in Libya. The truce talks took place last month in the Egyptian city of Hurghada, on the Red Sea coast. The talks worked out security arrangements for oil fields and ports to ensure return of normalcy and economic activities in the trouble –torn area. .
The El Sharara oil field would return to production soon after some routine maintenance. Discovered in 1980 and developed by OMV Petrom, El Sahara is Libya’s largest oil field located in the Murzuq Desert, south west of the country. The oil field accounts for about a third of Libya’s crude oil production. it is reported to have reserves of nearly 3 billion barrels of oil.
The oil field will produce 300,000 barrels on a daily basis. The oil will be exported and its revenues would return to the Libyan state. The Zawiya refinery, located in the north west of the country, depended mainly on oil extracted from El Sharara and El Feel oil fields. Presently, Libya is facing severe diesel shortage. Most Libyan oil production fields and its ports used for exports are located in areas under the control of Haftar’s forces. The work in these fields and ports were suspended nearly nine months ago. The National Oil Corporation estimated the total losses, due to the suspension of operations at oil installations, at about US$8.2bn, which is having a heavy toll on the North African country.
