Libyan oil production has declined at least 25% due to the current popular protests against the Libyan dictator Muamaar Al Ghaddafi.
The spreading violence has forced many companies operating in the North African country to withdraw staff and cut production output.Â
AFP has reported that Libyan oil production has declined by 300,000bpd since the start of protest. Libya usually produces approximately 1.6 million barrels of crude oil per day.
Austrian company OMV reported it may stop its Libyan operations completely. OMV is responsible for 33,000bpd production in the North African state, representing 10% of the company’s worldwide output. The company’s head office in Tripoli and supervises all OMV activities in North Africa.
OMV shares sank on Wednesday on news it had both missed its earnings expectations, and that its Libyan upstream operations were being thrown into doubt. Italy’s Eni, the UK’s BP and France’s Total were also among the companies that have begun to evacuate personnel from Libya.
Protests across the country have continued and the Eastern part of the country is now under the control of government opposition protestors. Qatar’s Aljazeera news channel has started broadcasting directly from Benghazi and Tabrak cities.
The capital Tripoli is still under the control of Ghaddafi’s state forces. The tyrant dictator has threatened he will apply a policy of search and destroy if opposition protests continue.
