By Jamal Adel.
Kufra, 12 November 2014:
NOC hopes of resuming production at the Sharara and the El Fil (Elephant) oilfields failed to . . .[restrict]materialise today because a valve on the pipeline near Reyayna in the Jebel Nafusa has been closed. There is also still no electricity at El Fil and more workers there are reported to have left, feraing an imminent attack by Tuareg and Misratan forces.
“We can’t resume production at the Sharara, because the pipeline valve is 100-percent turned off near Reyayana” a senior official at Sharara told the Libya Herald.
Zintanis are suspected of being behind the valve closure.
“Production at El-Fil (Elephant) oilfield hasn’t resumed either,” he said, “because their electricity station is not working and most of the company’s employees left because of insecurity”.
The NOC announced yesterday that it production would resume today at the two Murzuk Basin fields. Together they have counted for almost half of recent production.
The Sharara field, operated by Akakus Oil, a NOC-Repsol joint venture, was taken over by pro-Libya Dawn Tuaregs and members of Misrata’s Third Force at the weekend, resulting in production being halted. At the time there were reports of company vehicles being stolen and of damage to equipment. “Some of the attackers stole cars and also attempted to steal generators and expensive equipment of the company, but some of the others prevented the theft of such very expensive equipment,” the official said.
The Sharara field was now secure, he added.
Production stopped a couple of days later at El-Fil field when the electricity was cut and employees started leaving.
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