By Ayman Al-Warfali
BENGHAZI (Reuters) – Oil exports at major Libyan ports were halted on Monday and production curtailed across the country, six engineers told Reuters, amid a standoff between rival political factions over control of the central bank and oil revenue.
Some output was being increased to feed local power generation, they said.
Libya’s oil production has plummeted by more than half from typical levels since the standoff began last month, when western factions moved to oust veteran Central Bank of Libya (CBL) Governor Sadiq al-Kabir and replace him with a rival board.
In response, eastern factions called for a shut down to all oil production.
The crisis threatens to end a four-year period of relative peace in the OPEC member that for a decade has been split between eastern and western factions that have drawn backing from Russia and Turkey respectively.
Exports remained halted at the ports of Es Sidra, Ras Lanouf, Hariga, Zueitina, Brega and Sirte, engineers there said.
Arabian Gulf Oil Company (AGOCO), a subsidiary of the state-owned National Oil Corporation (NOC), ordered production to be boosted at its fields to feed a power plant at Hariga port, engineers have told Reuters.
AGOCO, which controls the Sarir, Nafoura and Messla fields, was producing 139,000 barrels per day (bpd) on Aug. 28, down from 290,000 bpd on July 20, NOC said last week.
Reuters was not immediately able to ascertain its current production.
NOC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
NOC said on Thursday that total production had plunged to just over 591,000 bpd by Aug. 28 from nearly 959,000 bpd on Aug. 26, amounting to losses of over $120 million over the three days. Production was at about 1.28 million bpd on July 20, NOC said.
Libya’s average production in July was 1.18 million bpd, according to OPEC, citing secondary sources.
(Reporting by Ayman Al-Warfali; Writing by Yousef Saba; Editing by Louise Heavens and Sharon Singleton)
