Libyan oil production has plummeted sharply as the country's largest oil field Sharara and the nearby Hamada field both shut down Sunday due to an apparent pipeline blockage, sources said.
This news means that Libyan oil production has plunged by almost 40% from mid February levels as just over a week ago the 90,000 b/d Elephant or El Feel field also shut due to protests by local tribes and guards.
These recent events show how fragile Libya's oil sector still is to supply disruptions, and unless there are marked improvements in security and access to finance, the country's output outlook situation is not expected to change.
Libyan production was averaging just over a 1 million b/d until late February but it has fallen by almost 380,000 b/d in the past week, sources added.
A spokesman at state-owned National Oil Corporation confirmed that the 12,500 b/d Hamada field was temporarily shut down due to an "apparent pipeline blockage."
"We will see how long duration is expected to be before considering force majeure," the spokesman told S&P Global Platts.
He declined, however, to comment on the status of the 340,000 b/d Sharara field.
Sharara and Hamada were both operating close to 300,000 b/d and 10,000 b/d last week, sources added.
Crude from Sharara, El-Feel and Hamada is pumped through the same pipeline into the 120,000 b/d Zawiya refinery and the Zawiya export terminal.
All these three fields have been subject to repeated closures over the last few years due to protests and attacks on its export pipelines.
Sharara is operated by a joint venture of Spain's Repsol and NOC while Hamada is operated by NOC subsidiary, Agoco.
Libya produced some 980,000 b/d in both December and January, recovering to average 810,000 b/d over the whole of 2017, after much lower numbers a year earlier, according to the latest S&P Global Platts survey of OPEC producers.
