Libya’s National Oil Corp (NOC) has declared a force majeure on crude production from the Sharara oilfield.
The move made on Sunday will hit volumes for tankers in the Mediterranean region, particularly aframaxes.
All shipments from the field to the export terminal of Zawiya have been halted.
French shipbroker BRS Group said Libya has been shipping out between 150,000 and 170,000 barrels per day recently.
This is out of a total of 1.1m bpd in exports from the country, mainly carried on aframaxes.
Sharara can produce up to 300,000 bpd.
The force majeure was implemented due to protests in the area related to calls for improvements to public services.
Libya’s oil output has been disrupted repeatedly in the years following the 2011 Nato-backed uprising against its former leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Sharara is one of Libya’s largest fields and has been a frequent target for local and broader political protests.
It is located in the Murzuq basin in south-east Libya and run by NOC via the Acacus company.
Talks continue
Spain’s Repsol, France’s Total, Austria’s OMV and Norway’s Equinor are also involved.
Negotiations were ongoing to resume production as soon as possible, NOC said.
“The loss of confidence in the continuity of supplying the global market with Libyan oil will result in Libyan oil remaining unmarketed,” the oil and gas ministry said.
It added closures of oil facilities “have serious consequences, and it may be difficult to quantify and explain all the damage it may cause”.
“Closing and reopening the production requires maintenance operations and the treatment of technical problems, as well as a lot of effort, a long time and a high cost to be borne by the Libyan state treasury,” the ministry warned.
In July, production at the Sharara, Elfeel and 108 fields was stopped by tribal protesters over the abduction of a former finance minister, Reuters reported.
