Oilfield Closures Spread in Standoff over Libyan Central Bank

Libya's oilfield closures spread on Wednesday as the Sarir field almost completely halted output, two field engineers told Reuters, amid a political dispute over control of the central bank and oil revenue. Authorities in the east, where most of Libya's oilfields lie, declared on Monday that all production and exports would be halted. Sarir was producing about 209,000 barrels per day (bpd) before output was reduced, the engineers said.

Force majeure had already been announced on exports at the 300,000 bpd Sharara oilfield and this week Reuters has reported disruptions at El Feel, Amal, Nafoora and Abu Attifel. In July, Libya, an OPEC member, was producing about 1.18 million barrels of oil per day. The move to shut off Libya's main source of revenue comes in response to the Tripoli-based Presidency Council sacking Central Bank of Libya (CBL) chief Sadiq al-Kabir, prompting rival armed factions to mobilise.

Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah, installed through a U.N.-backed process in 2021 and head of the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity, said this week that oilfields should not be allowed to be shut "under flimsy pretexts". On Tuesday, U.S. Africa Command General Michael Langley and Chargé d'Affaires Jeremy Berndt met Khalifa Haftar, the head of a force called the Libyan National Army that controls the country's east and south.

"The United States urges all Libyan stakeholders to engage constructively in dialogue," with support from the United Nations Support Mission in Libya and the international community, the U.S. Embassy in Libya said on social media platform X. Benchmark Brent oil prices were down 1.2% to US$78.35 per barrel as of 1039 GMT as concerns about Chinese demand and risks of a broader economic slowdown offset concerns about potential supply losses from Libya and elsewhere.