Protesting workers shut down Libya’s biggest oil field

Libya’s biggest oil field is reportedly shut down due to a protest by workers, stalling a revival in the politically divided country’s production of crude.

Sharara closed on Wednesday, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified because they aren’t authorized to speak to the media. The field was pumping 250,000 barrels a day before the shutdown. The person didn’t give additional details on the workers’ protest, as reported by Bloomberg.

Before the halt at Sharara, Libya’s oil output was at its highest since October 2014, when the country pumped 850,000 barrels a day. The recent increase, along with higher production from Nigeria and swelling stockpiles in the U.S., were undermining OPEC’s strategy to re-balance the market and prop up prices. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allied suppliers agreed on May 25 to extend a deal to cut output until the end of March
to battle a global oversupply.

Crude from Sharara in western Libya had resumed flowing to the Zawiya refinery in late April, after a three-week closure. El Feel, a field also known as Elephant, re-started in April as well, after having been halted since April 2015.

Libya, with Africa’s biggest crude reserves, pumped as much as 1.6 million barrels a day before a political uprising in 2011.