Libya is restarting production at the 315,000 barrel a day El Sharara oilfield, two Libyan oil sources said on Thursday. But a third oil source said output had not yet resumed, while a spokesman for state oil firm NOC could not be reached for comment. Libya's Tripoli-based government said on Wednesday production at the field, located deep in south, would resume after the prime minister visited it and persuaded protesters to end a blockage.
Day earlier, a spokesman for a group of tribesmen, who took over the 315,000 barrels a day-field with state guards on Dec 8, said the government had agreed to implement their demands within a week from Dec 22. "El Sharara oilfield will be reopened after reaching an agreement with Fayez al-Sarraj," Mohammed Ahmed said. "Urgent (demands), like liquidity and fuel, will start (being implemented) on Saturday, other demands will be implemented within 45 days", he said.
The Tripoli-based government had earlier announced a development fund worth 1 billion Libyan dinars ($717 million) for the long-neglected south in a bid to appease the protesters. The tribesmen had demanded better state services for the south, which produces around 400,000 bpd of day, but lacks basic facailities such as hospitals or electricity.
The guards, which NOC said had facilitated the protest, had demanded salary payments they said they were owed. El Sharara crude is transported to the Zawiya port, which is also home to a refinery. NOC runs the field with Spain's Repsol, France's Total, Austria's OMV and Norway's Equinor , formerly known as Statoil. Libya had in recent months boosted output to up to 1.3 million barrels a day, its highest level since 2013 when a wave of protests and blockages against oil facilities began.
NOC is widely seen by armed groups and civilian protesters as an easy target to milk in the absence of a weak state and deteriorating public services.
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