Libya's Sharara restarts after brief force majeure

The fate of the Sharara field has become entwined with a campaign for better basic services for the inhabitants of southern Libya

Libya’s biggest oil field, Sharara, was briefly shut down by an unidentified group in July, raising the spectre of a return to the frequent protests that saw the field taken offline at intervals over the past four years. The group shut the 290,000 bl/d field on 19 July by closing a valve at Hamada, on the pipeline connecting it with the port of Zawiya. The National Oil Corporation (NOC) briefly declared force majeure for Sharara shipments; but after three days of negotiations the group, which the NOC has not named, agreed to withdraw and the pipeline was reactivated. The stoppage put a brief a dent in Libya's production, which NOC chairman Mustafa Sanallah says stands at 1.2-1.3mn bl/d. Shar