On Sunday, Libya’s Oil Ministry said in a statement that the closed oil fields will reopen within days. This comes after protesters closed vital fields in the east of the country.
Oil Minister, Mohamed Aoun met tribal leaders and discussed the closures. These have caused Libya’s daily output to fall by around 550,000 barrels.
The statement added that they are in the process of reaching a final agreement, that would put an end to the recent closures.
Aoun claimed daily losses amount to between $50-70 million dollars a day, due to the closure of a number of oil fields.
“We formed a committee to prepare a detailed report on the effects of closing oil fields on the local economy, and the lives of individuals,” he said. Aoun pointed out that Libya is excluded from the “OPEC +” production agreement, and has not yet reached the specified quotas.
Recently, The Spokesperson of the Libyan National Army (LNA), Ahmed Al-Mismari, denied that the army issued orders to close the country’s oil ports and fields.
Commenting on the circulation of news that the LNA and the Libyan government designated by the House of Representatives (HoR) issued instructions to start the gradual closure of all oil ports and fields as well as gas pipelines, Al-Mismari said it is “fake news that has no basis in truth.”
Notably, the El-Sharara field in the west of the country, which has a production capacity of 300,000 bpd was closed by protesters. They demanded Prime Minister, Abdel-Hamid Dbaiba cede power to Fathi Bashagha.
Moreover, the El-Feel field with a daily capacity of 65,000 barrels, was stopped for the same reason. The Brega export terminals were also closed on Monday.