BFF-46 Armed group blocks key oil field in Libya

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Armed group blocks key oil field in Libya

TRIPOLI, Dec 10, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – An armed group has seized one of Libya’s
largest oilfields in the country’s southwest, the state-owned National Oil
Corporation said Monday.

The seizure of Sharara oilfield prompted the company to declare a “force
majeure” on exports from the field.

“National Oil Corporation (NOC) hereby declares a state of force majeure at
the Akakus-operated Sharara oil field as of Sunday,” the company said in an
online statement.

Akakus is a joint venture between NOC, Spain’s Repsol energy company,
France’s Total, Austria’s OMV and Norway’s Statoil.

It produces some 315,000 barrels per day, out of Libya’s current output of
one million bpd.

Force majeure, invoked in exceptional circumstances, exempts the company
from liability in case of non-compliance with oil delivery contracts.

Oil facilities in Libya are regularly targeted by rival armed groups, local
militias or tribes vying for power or pushing for their social demands to be
met.

NOC, which is reviewing procedures to evacuate employees, urged local
authorities to “act in the national interest and return security to the
site”.

It also called on the group to leave the oilfield “immediately without pre-
condition”, ruling out negotiations with a militia.

“The presence of this group is a real threat to the field and to the future
of our country,” said NOC chairman Moustafa Sanalla. “I want to be clear,
this militia has to leave the field immediately.”

Libya has plunged into chaos following a 2011 NATO-backed uprising that
toppled and killed dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

Two competing administrations, rival militias, tribes and jihadists have
been vying for control of territory and the country’s vast oil wealth.

BSS/APF/MRI/1904 hrs