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REUTERS
TRIPOLI/BENGHAZI
Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) warned on Sunday of “catastrophic consequences” if the El Sharara oilfield is brought to a complete halt by a tribesmen protest.
Should the 315,000 barrel-a-day field shut down, it would take a long time to bring it back on stream and production from another field would also be affected, the state oil firm said.
“Shutting down production at the El Sharara field will have catastrophic, long-term consequences, it would take a long time to resume production because of the sabotage and theft that are likely to happen,” NOC said in a statement.
The tribesmen stormed into the field premises on Saturday, saying their southern Fezzan region had suffered decades of neglect and demanding that the revenue of the oil produced from local fields be used to fund development projects.
NOC said the storage tanks at the field will be completely full in the next hours, forcing the field to shut down as it cannot pump the crude out to processing facilities.
It described the protesters as “criminals” because they had stopped the pumps from functioning.
“The company would then have to implement an emergency plan to evacuate the staff from the field,” it said in a statement.
TRIPOLI/BENGHAZI
Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) warned on Sunday of “catastrophic consequences” if the El Sharara oilfield is brought to a complete halt by a tribesmen protest.
Should the 315,000 barrel-a-day field shut down, it would take a long time to bring it back on stream and production from another field would also be affected, the state oil firm said.
“Shutting down production at the El Sharara field will have catastrophic, long-term consequences, it would take a long time to resume production because of the sabotage and theft that are likely to happen,” NOC said in a statement.
The tribesmen stormed into the field premises on Saturday, saying their southern Fezzan region had suffered decades of neglect and demanding that the revenue of the oil produced from local fields be used to fund development projects.
NOC said the storage tanks at the field will be completely full in the next hours, forcing the field to shut down as it cannot pump the crude out to processing facilities.
It described the protesters as “criminals” because they had stopped the pumps from functioning.
“The company would then have to implement an emergency plan to evacuate the staff from the field,” it said in a statement.
