Libya’s oil output will collapse “within days” to the lowest level since the 2011 civil war as a blockade of its export terminals has forced a rapid shutdown of production and electricity blackouts in parts of the country, according to the head of the national oil company. Mustafa Sanalla, chairman of the National Oil Corporation , said the country’s output had already plummeted from some 1.3m barrels a day to just 400,000 b/dsince the Libyan strongman, Gen Khalifa Haftar, started the blockade on Friday. Production was now expected to fall to as little as 72,000 b/d”within days” or at most weeks, he told the Financial Times.
“Everyday the situation is getting worse,” Mr Sanalla said from his offices in Tripoli, where the NOC has had to rehouse staff in hotels because of fighting on the edge of the capital. “These blockades are illegal, criminal actions. It needs to be resolved quickly as the longer we stay offline the more difficult it is to restore production at older fields.” Gen Haftar, whose forces control much of the east and south of the country, including the majority of its key oil terminals, shut down crude exports last week in an effort to maximise pressure on his rivals in the UN-backed Government of National Accord in Tripoli. Gen Haftar launched an offensive to take Tripoli in April last year but that advance has stalled on the outskirts of the city.
The military leader’s move to blockade exports came after he refused to sign a ceasefire agreement in Moscow and ahead of an int ernational conference in Berlin, which ultimately failed to produce a peace deal despite the presence of several world leaders. The US embassy in Libya has called for an immediate resumption of oil production saying the shutdown risked exacerbating the humanitarian situation in the country. The loss of gas supplies – normally sourced as a byproduct of oil extraction – was affecting power generation, Mr Sanalla said, creating shortages on the national grid and blackouts in parts of eastern Libya. The NOC was shutting down production at a petrochemical facility in Brega to release gas supplies for the national grid, but he feared it would not be enough to address the shortage.