TRIPOLI: Libya’s western El Feel oilfield has resumed production after security guards ended a protest that lasted more than two months, oil ministry officials said yesterday, but many oilfields and ports remain blocked.
The reopening of El Feel is good news for the weak central government struggling with a budget crisis as a wave of protests at oil installations and rebel violence have dried up oil exports, the country’s main source of income.
Three years after a NATO-backed revolt toppled leader Muammar Gaddafi, Libya’s oil infrastructure remains vulnerable.
Libya’s oil output had fallen to less than 200,000bpd in the past few weeks, down from 1.4 million bpd in July when a wave of protests started. Much of the remaining output is used to feed the Zawiya refinery which supplies the west of the country.
Motorists have been queueing for more than a week to refill in the capital Tripoli with some people sleeping in cars. Acting Oil Minister Omar Shakmak said authorities had reached an agreement with protesters. “The protesters agreed to reopen the field which restarted work yesterday and today,” he said.
Production at El Feel, located in the southwest, will reach 80,000 barrels a day within 24 hours, said Ibrahim Al Awami, head of the ministry’s inspection and measurement department. Officials did not disclose more details about the agreement with the protesters.
Protesters shut down the field in late March to the western Mellitah port as part of a nationwide disruption to oilfields and ports to pressure the government over a range of political and financial demands. The field is jointly operated by state-owned National Oil Corp and Italy’s ENI and was producing around 85,000 bpd before the shutdown.
Libya’s eastern Hariga oil export port remained blocked by state security guards who were said they had not been paid for months.
A spokesman for state-oil firm AGOCO, which runs the port and connecting oilfields, said the finance ministry had paid out the salaries but the firm was still waiting for the guards to confirm their protest was over. Reuters
