Ruxandra Iordache
Libya's state-owned oil firm NOC has declared force majeure on crude exports from two ports in the west of the country after output from three fields was shut down earlier today.
Libya's largest oil field — the 300,000 b/d El Sharara field — was shut by the Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG), which protects state-owned NOC's assets, trading and Libya-based sources said.
El Sharara is operated by Akakus Oil, a joint venture between NOC, Spain's Repsol, Austria's OMV, Norway's Equinor and TotalEnergies. The PFG is protesting against NOC chairman Mustafa Sanalla's attempt to remove Ahmed Ammar from Akakus Oil's management team, according to one of the sources. Output from El Sharara is prioritised for the 120,000 b/d Zawia refinery. The remaining volumes are exported from the nearby Zawia terminal.
A third source said production has also been shut at the Hamada oil field, which is run by NOC subsidiary Agoco, and the Wafa condensate field, operated by Mellitah Oil and Gas, NOC's joint venture with Italian firm Eni.
NOC has responded by declaring force majeure on crude exports from the Zawia and Mellitah terminals, according to a company document seen by Argus. Loading and unloading of refined products at the two ports are not subject to force majeure restrictions.
Zawia ships out Esharara crude, while the Mellitah terminal exports the Mellitah grade, a mix of crude from the 90,000 b/d El Feel field and condensate from Wafa. Operations at Mellitah are not affected at the moment, according to a shipping source.
The disruption comes just a few days ahead of Libya's first presidential election on 24 December. The vote aims to unify state institutions and alleviate political instability which frequently disrupts Libya's oil and gas operations.
Libya produced 1.12m b/d of crude last month, down by 20,000 b/d from October, Argus estimates.
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