Oil production at several Libyan oilfields was halted on Tuesday after the rival government in the east announced on Monday a stop to all oil production and exports from OPEC’s African producer.
Crude oil output at the El Feel oilfield in southwestern Libya has stopped, engineers told Reuters on Tuesday.
Engineers at several other oilfields in the east and southeast have also halted or reduced production. Local operators have indicated to Bloomberg they will be gradually halting production across the country.
Libya, which pumps about 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil, was plunged into a deeper political crisis earlier this month over a row about the leadership of the Central Bank of Libya, the only internationally recognized depository of Libya’s oil revenues.
The Benghazi-based government in eastern Libya, which is a rival to the Tripoli-based government in the politically divided North African OPEC producer, said on Monday it would shut down all crude oil output and exports.
The east-based government backed by military leader Khalifa Haftar is not internationally recognized, but Haftar and his people control most of the country’s oilfields.
Over the past weeks, the situation in Libya has deteriorated with the east-west rivalry flaring up again and centered on the leadership of the Central Bank of Libya—the guardian of Libya’s wealth and income from oil exports.
The internationally recognized government in the capital city in the west, Tripoli, is trying to replace Sadiq Al-Kabir, the governor of the Central Bank of Libya. This has led to the latest controversy between the eastern and western governments and political factions, threatening again to reduce Libya’s oil production and exports.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) expressed on Monday “its deep concern over the deteriorating situation in Libya resulting from unilateral decisions.”
UNSMIL warned that “continuing with unilateral actions will come at a high cost for the Libyan people to resolve the protracted crisis, and risks precipitating the country’s financial and economic collapse.”
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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