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An oil field operated by Italy’s ENI and Libya’s state oil company has been closed for a year by protesters, who previously blocked Libya’s Abu Attifel oil field.Â
A security official said on Tuesday the locals who have been protesting to demand jobs have also blocked a road and seized a company’s plane as part of a wave of strikes at oil facilities that began in July 2013.
Protests at other oil ports and fields have ended, but the shutdown continues at Abu Attifelt in Jalu, in Libya’s volatile east, where the field lies. In addition to Abue Attifelt, which used to pump 60,000 barrels a day, the protesters have now also closed the nearby Jalo 59 field, operated by al-Waha Oil Co.
That closure lowered Libya’s oil output by 25,000 bpd to 900,000 bpd, a spokesman for state-run National Oil Corp (NOC) said on Sunday.The protesters have also seized a company airplane and closed an airstrip and a land road to Ajdabiya, which is on the coast close to the Zueitina oil port, which is connected by pipelines to Abu Attifel, a security official and local activist said.
Zueitina, west of Benghazi, remains closed. Oil workers there are demanding a change of management at the port operator. The Abu Attifel protesters also stopped fuel trucks bound for the Sarir power plant and kept 65 Egyptian truck drivers from leaving the area, the security official said.
Despite major disruptions to oil fields, Libya’s oil production saw an increase to around 900,000 bpd, nine times more than a few months ago as three eastern ports reopened under a deal with a group of rebels who had seized the export terminals to press for regional autonomy. Libya’s rise in oil output has been quoted as a main factor for the OPEC rise in production last month.Â
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