A pipeline leak at Libya’s largest oil field, Sharara, caused a fire on Thursday, prompting a redirection of the flow of oil, the National Oil Corporation said in a statement.
NOC said that “Production at the Sharara field continues: some flow was gradually redirected to the El Feel pipeline toward Mellitah port, while the remainder was diverted through the 18?inch Hamada pipeline to the Zawiya storage tanks. These measures have significantly reduced losses.”
The Sharara field is a regular target for warring political and military factions in Libya, which boasts the biggest oil reserves in Africa, at an estimated 48 billion barrels. Yet the country has been struggling to boost production significantly following the civil war that broke out after the United States toppled Muammar Gaddafi, as the political situation remains complicated.
The Sharara field has the capacity to produce over 300,000 barrels daily, but maintaining this rate of production has proved difficult as the field regularly becomes a target for protesters and various political factions that have repeatedly blocked it to make their points.
Despite the challenges, Libya last year held its first oil tender in years, attracting attention from companies including Chevron, Eni, Repsol, and QatarEnergy. Even with this interest, the number of blocks awarded was a small portion of the total on offer, which stood at 22 blocks. The number of blocks awarded was five. This will make it hard for Libya to fulfil its plans of ramping up production to a target daily rate of 2 million barrels by 2030.
Still, Big Oil is returning to the North African country after years of shunning it because of the fighting. BP and Eni restarted drilling there in 2024, with Austria’s OMV and Spain’s Repsol also expressing interest in returning, per reports from the Libyan government from that time.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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