By Benoit Faucon
Recent attacks on two eastern Libyan ports have shut down a quarter of the country’s output, a spokesman for the state-run oil company said .
In a statement, a spokesman for Libya’s National Oil Corp. said oil production of around 240,000 barrels a day had been shut in. He said a planned tanker loading had also been postponed.
The outages follow a rebel attack on the Es-Sider and Ras Lanuf terminals. After years of disruption, Libyan production had more recently recovered to about one million barrels a day.
U.S. sanctions also threaten to reduce the ability of many buyers to take Iranian crude. Amid rising demand and shrinking stored inventories of oil around the world, crude prices have been rising sharply.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries as well as non-OPEC producers plan to meet next week to discuss boosting production.
Riyadh and Moscow have said they think the time has come to ease up on cuts. Producers don’t like prices too high, fearful it could erode demand. Big consuming countries, meanwhile, have called for an easing.
Oil prices were mixed on Thursday. Brent, the global benchmark, fell 1%, while U.S. crude rose 0.4%.
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Libya’s Es Sider oil port shuts down due to armed conflict
Libya’s Es Sider oil port was shut on Thursday due to armed clashes nearby and at least one storage tank in the neighboring Ras Lanuf terminal was set alight, an engineer in the area said.
Loadings were suspended at Ras Lanuf, according to a local shipping agent.
The clashes between forces loyal to Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) and rival armed groups were taking place south of Ras Lanuf, where the LNA was targeting its rivals with air strikes, local sources said.
The LNA took control of Es Sider and Ras Lanuf along with other oil ports in Libya’s oil crescent in 2016, allowing them to reopen after a long blockade.
Storage tanks at both terminals had been badly damaged in previous fighting and were yet to be repaired, though there had been regular loadings from Es Sider.
Libya’s oil production recovered last year to just over 1 million barrels per day (bpd) and has been mostly stable, though it remains vulnerable to shutdowns and blockades at oil facilities.
National output is still well under the more than 1.6 million bpd Libya was producing before a 2011 uprising led to political fragmentation and armed conflict.
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Libyan armed faction leader told to pullout from two oil terminals
- Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) allowed the NOC to reopen the ports after a long blockade by Jadhran
- Jadhran has kept a low profile since 2016, but appeared in a video on social media, saying he had formed a coalition to take over the oil sites
Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) called on Saturday for the “unconditional and immediate” withdrawal of the armed faction under former oil port blockader Ibrahim Jadhran from the two major terminals of Ras Lanuf and Es Sider.
The NOC said in a statement that storage tank 12 in Ras Lanuf had been “significantly damaged” in fighting on Thursday, when armed forces linked to Jadhran stormed the two ports, causing them to close.
“NOC calls for the unconditional and immediate withdrawal of the militia operating under Ibrahim Jathran to prevent an environmental disaster and further destruction of key infrastructure,” the statement said.
“Further damage to these sites could have a huge impact on the Libyan oil sector and the national economy.”
Rival political authorities and militias have been vying for control of territory and Libya’s oil wealth since the 2011 uprising that ousted and killed President Muammar Qaddafi.
Haftar’s forces on Friday launched airstrikes against the rival militia targeting key oil facilities in the east of the country, a spokesman for his group said.
Jadhran had controlled terminals in Libya’s oil crescent for several years before losing control of them in September 2016 to forces under Khalifa Haftar, the dominant figure in eastern Libya.
Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) allowed the NOC to reopen the ports after a long blockade by Jadhran that cost Libya tens of billions of dollars in lost exports.
Jadhran has kept a low profile since 2016, but appeared in a video on social media on Thursday, saying he had formed a coalition to take over the oil sites.
He said he was launching a campaign to recapture the ports in order to “overturn the injustice” that he said had been imposed on people in the area by the LNA over the past two years.
The NOC declared force majeure in Ras Lanuf and Es Sider, announcing an initial production loss of 240,000 barrels per day (bpd), which it said was expected to rise to 400,000 bpd if the ports stayed shut.
It said it had evacuated staff “due to armed clashes in the area.”
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