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Libya oilfield output dips due to security

Tripoli, July 19, 2014

Libya's El-Feel oilfield has slightly reduced output due to security problems in the capital Tripoli, a spokesman for National Oil Corp (NOC) said.

"I don't have any figures but some security problems in Tripoli have affected the field and slightly reduced production," NOC spokesman Mohamed El Harari said, without elaborating.

El Feel, operated by NOC and Italy's ENI, is protected by security guards from the northwestern Zintan region, whose fighters have been fighting rival militias over the control of Tripoli's main airport since Sunday.

Libya was producing around 555,000 barrels a day, NOC had said on Thursday.

He also said oilfield 103 in the east, feeding the Zueitina port had resumed work after a recent protest there.

But an official at Zueitina port told Reuters security guards at the oilfield were objecting to a resumption in output because they said they had not been paid for one year.

"They are demanding as well to change the board of directors of the company," he said. "The production of Zueitina is completely shut due to a protest of the field and port's workers."

Some oil workers also rejected restarting production because officials from the former regime of Muammar Gaddafi toppled in 2011 still held senior positions.

Zueitina's port had been reopened in April after a group of rebels demanding regional autonomy had agreed to lift a blockage but resuming production has been hampered by protests and technical challenges.

Libya's oil industry remains highly vulnerable to protests by militias who helped overthrow Gaddafi but now seize oilfields at will to press for financial and political demands. - Reuters




Tags: NOC | libya | oilfield |

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