By Libya Herald reporter.
Tripoli, 23 November 2016:
Two Sirte Oil Company (SOC) employees were injured yesterday morning in an explosion in the control room at its Lahib field, 150 kilomtres south of Brega. One of them suffered secondary degree burns and was flown to Tripoli for treatment.
According to the National Oil Corporation (NOC), the incident was not the result of a terrorist attack or of sabotage. It is thought that a technical problem was the cause, although exactly what happened will now be assessed by a team of experts from both NOC and SOC.
The control room as well as the air conditioning system were damaged, but not the control system, the NOC said.
Production at the field – up to 10,000 b/d and 17 million standard cubic feet per day – has been halted but will resume once the cause of the incident has been assessed and new safety measures put in place, it added.
Two months ago, the field was attacked by gunmen who smashed up equipment at the control centre and stole a number of vehicles belong to both staff and the company.
Last month, production had to be briefly halted at one of the wells when the wellhead sprung a leak.
