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Libya’s biggest oilfield is gradually resuming production that had been halted by an almost five-month blockade, an official said Saturday.
The restart of the Sharara field in the country’s southwest comes after a valve on the pipeline running to the port of Zawiya was reopened on Friday, according to Ali El-Zeeb, the commander of the petroleum facilities guards aligned with Libya’s UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA). Before the shutdown in mid-January, Sharara was producing as much as 300,000 barrels a day.
The restart of the field, which is operated as a joint venture between the National Oil Corp. and Total SA, Repsol SA, OMV AG and Equinor ASA, follows the fall-back from western Libya of fighters loyal to Khalifa Haftar, the eastern-based commander who’s been battling to seize the capital, Tripoli, from the GNA for more than a year.