Security guards at Hariga have begun protests which will stop all crude exports from the key Libyan port.
The closure is yet another setback for Libya’s faltering oil economy, which is struggling to recover from a year of protests which decimated the country’s export levels.
New agency Reuters are reporting five pro-government soldiers were killed and 28 wounded in Benghazi on Saturday while fighting militants, lifting the death toll from three weeks of clashes to 300, medics said.
The protesters at Hariga were part of a state security oil force that has gone on strike over pay several times this year.
“There is a sit-in from security guards who say they have not been paid,” said the official, who asked not to be named. “We are trying to solve the issue.”
A tanker had been waiting for three days to lift oil from Hariga, located in Tobruk, but the guards did not allow it to do so, the official said. The port was only open for fuel imports and the exports of refinery products, which are marginal, he added.
The closure will lower Libya’s output to around 500,000 bpd or even less, based on previous published figures. The state National Oil Corp (NOC) has not given a production update for a month.
