Foreign workers at Libya’s Sharara oilfield, where operations have been disrupted, have been temporarily evacuated because of unspecified information about hostile activity nearby, an engineer at the field has told Reuters.
Sixteen workers from countries including Spain, France, the Philippines and Serbia, have been evacuated and were expected to return on Wednesday, the official told Reuters.
Local media reports mentioned the presence of an armed rebel group near the facility. The National Oil Corporation (NOC) of Libya, which runs the Sharara oilfield in partnership with its foreign partners Repsol, Total, Statoil and OMV, refused to comment on the situation to Reuters.
Sharara, Libya’s biggest field, was producing more than 280,000 barrels per day (bpd) before it was forced to close after an armed group shut a valve at Rayayna, near the western town of Zintan, on August 19th.
Sharara has faced a series of shutdowns or partial shutdowns because of armed aggression from rebel groups between the south western field and the port of Zawiya on Libya’s coast, where Sharara crude is exported.
