Force majeure halt on Libyan oilfields

Libya will halt production at 11 oilfields, the National Oil Corporation announced Wednesday citing force majeure. Militants claiming affiliation with Islamic State captured two fields and briefly took over a third yesterday.

The Bahi oil station and Mabrouk field, 500 kilometres east of Tripoli, were overrun Wednesday after personnel had been evacuated. A third field, Dahra, was seized but quickly recaptured by the Libyan military. All the fields sustained damage to buildings and equipment.

The country is currently controlled by two competing governments, a state that has caused the deteriorating security situation. Both factions are attempting to capitalise on oil exports. An attack on an export terminal at Sidra oil port was reported Tuesday. Peace talks between the two governments were scheduled to resume today in Morocco.

Continuing violence in the country slowed production to 430,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2014 and 350,000 bpd in early 2015, down from 1.6 million in 2010, before the ouster of Muammar Gadhafi in 2011.