The National Oil Corporation (NOC) announced the lifting of the force majeure status on the El Sharara field, starting today.
The corporation said in a statement that it had instructed the operator, Acacus, to initiate production arrangements, taking into account public safety standards and process security.
The NOC added that it had reached an agreement whereby the Petroleum Facilities Guards were obligated to stop any obstacles put on operations at the El Sharara field and to ensure that there were no security breaches there.
It is noteworthy that the NOC, under the auspices of the United Nations Mission in Libya, addressed the issue of security arrangements for oil fields and ports in the Hurghada meetings this month. “The Hurghada meetings have contributed positively to overcoming the difficulties and obstacles facing the stability of operations in the El Sharara field and its affiliated stations,” NOC said.
The NOC pledged to adopt “professional and non-political constants” in any arrangements related to tasks and responsibilities affecting its competence, affirming that disposing of oil revenues is a matter related to the executive authority of the country.
In September, the leader of the Libyan National Army (LNA), Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, announced the resumption of oil production and export “as long as oil revenue is not used to finance terrorism.”
Following Haftar’s decision, the NOC lifted the force majeure on some oil fields. The NOC has said the fields will eventually produce about 300,000 barrels per day next week. Notably, Libya’s average daily oil production was more than 1.2 million barrels before the blockade was put in place in January 2020.