Libya's Sharara oil field reopens after pipeline blockade

London: Libya's Sharara oil field, the country's largest, reopened on Tuesday after being shut down for more than two weeks due to a pipeline blockade, a Libyan oil source said.
The southwestern field had been producing around 280,000 barrels per day (bpd) until an armed group closed the pipeline between the field and the port of Zawiya on Aug. 19.
There was no immediate comment from the National Oil Corporation (NOC) nor detail about how the blockade had been lifted.
Sharara restarted production in December after a two-year pipeline blockade and has been key to a recovery of Libya's national output to about 1 million bpd, about four times its level in mid-2016.
But the field has suffered repeated temporary shutdowns this year because of protests and the activity of armed groups around the field and along the pipeline leading north.
The NOC had blamed the latest Sharara shutdown on a rogue militia which it said was also responsible for closures at El Feel and Hamada fields. El Feel and Hamada were subsequently reopened.
The NOC said it had referred the names of two militia leaders to Libya's general prosecutor over the shutdowns. The armed group was trying to secure the release of a relative jailed for alleged kidnapping in Tripoli, according to industry sources.
The NOC runs Sharara in a joint venture with oil companies Repsol, Total, Statoil and OMV.