On Tuesday, Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) announced it was suspending oil exports from the El-Sedra terminal, citing a lack of storage capacity at the port due to damage to the facilities, inadequate funds, and bad weather.
It said in a statement that the El-Waha Oil Company, which exports oil through the El-Sedra terminal has reduced production by 50,000 bpd.
“The continuation of bad weather may lead to a further reduction in daily production, reaching 105,000 barrels per day,” the NOC added.
The company criticized its lack of budget, and inability to finance projects. It also blamed the “responsible authorities” for the halt in production.
On Monday, oil production resumed by one million barrels at Libya’s three largest fields, the El-Hamada, El Wafa, and El-Feel oil fields. This came after the fields had been shut down by the Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG), a paramilitary force meant to protect the country’s energy facilities, according to the NOC.
The shutdowns across four fields had previously lowered the nation’s crude output by about 350,000 barrels a day.
Libya’s daily production fell below 1 million barrels as a result of the stoppages, with authorities forced to suspend crude exports from the country’s western Zawiya and Mellitah ports. Daily oil exports in the first week of 2022 were 45% below the December average, data compiled by Bloomberg show.