BENGHAZI – Libya’s Nafoura oilfield had been shut down due to a blockage in the pipeline linking it to the eastern port of Zueitina, a spokesman for the state operator, AGOCO said on Thursday.
Analysts are of the opinion that the closure could further shore up the price of Brent crude, which had risen above $69 per barrel on Wednesday.
Renewed protests had led to the closure of several Libyan oilfields and ports in the past two weeks as violence and breakdown in state authority continues.
The field’s output was between 30,000 and 35,000 barrels per day (bpd), the spokesman said.
Protesters demanding jobs this week, stopped all crude flows to Zueitina.
Zueitina was one of the few Libyan ports still exporting oil when the largest Ras Lanuf and Es Sider were closed in December, due to clashes between armed groups.
Last month also, the western El Feel oilfield, run by state firm NOC and Italy’s ENI, shut down due to a strike by security guards demanding state jobs.
The neighboring El Sharara field had already closed in November due to a pipeline blockage.
NOC has not published any oil production figure recently, but industry sources estimate that output is now less than 400,000 bpd.
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Libya pumped up to 1.6 million bpd in 2010.
The loss of oil revenue has triggered a public finance crisis, forcing the central bank to use up a quarter of its foreign currency reserves in 2014, according to official data.
Libya is caught in a struggle between two governments, the official one based in the east, while the other controls Tripoli. (Reuters/NAN)
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