For the second time in two weeks, Libya’s El Feel oilfield has been shut down, due to an unlawful closure of a valve on an oil export pipeline, Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) said on Thursday. The 73,000-barrels-per-day El Feel field was shut down in the middle of last week due to airstrikes, after the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA), led by Khalifa Haftar, retaliated after forces loyal to the UN-backed Libyan government in Tripoli allegedly took control of the oilfield in the southwest. Two outages at the biggest oil field, Sharara, in one month forced Libya’s oil production down to below 1 million bpd in the first week of August—the lowest level in five months. Libya’s production stabilized and even increased in September and October—to 1.16 million bpd and 1.167 million bpd, respectively, according to OPEC’s figures. Yet, Libya is exempted from the OPEC+ production cuts due to its fragile security situation.

Source: Libya Today December 05, 2019 21:22 UTC