Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) has declared force majeure in its Sharara oilfield from August 7, a statement from NOC said on Wednesday.
The NOC said that the current circumstances at the Sharara oilfield, which has a capacity of 300,000 barrels per day, prevented the company "from carrying out the crude oil loading operations."
The NOC said that circumstances will affect the ceasing of oil operations, adding that they will also affect oil exporting operations at Zawia terminal.
The company had said on Tuesday said that it had gradually reduced the field's production due to "force majeure circumstances resulting from a sit-in of the gathering of the Fezzan movement."
'Political blackmail'
Sharara, located in southwestern Libya and operated by a joint venture of NOC with Spain's Repsol, France's TotalEnergies, Austria's OMV and Norway's Equinor, has been a frequent target of local protesters.
"NOC will notify you of returning to (a) normal situation as soon as the circumstances caused force majeure to disappear," the company said in the statement.
The Government of National Unity in Tripoli has described the attempts to shut down the field by local protesters as "political blackmail."
Sharara was also shut down by protests in January, one of many disruptions to Libya's oil output in the chaotic decade since the country divided in 2014, which left it with separate administrations in the east and west following the NATO-backed uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
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