By Libya Herald reporters.
Tripoli, 6 July 2017:
Spanish oil company Repsol is working hard to provide additional equipment to the often-closed Sharara oilfield its general manager said today.
With Libya’s oil output unofficially said to have passed the million barrel a day mark, Luis Paolo Navaz held talks with National Oil Corporation (NOC) Mustafa Sanalla about boosting Sharara production from the current 270,000 bpd. Before the Revolution it has a capacity of 400,000 bpd.
A NOC statement after the meeting said that worker security and safety was paramount. Last month, there was a strike at the field after a man drowned.
Workers were angry at the apparent delay of an air ambulance called in to try and resuscitate the man after he fell into a pool. However, the field reopened with 24 hours.
Sharara is operated by Akakus Oil Company, a joint venture between NOC and Repsol. Austria’s OMV and France’s Total also have a stake.
Until last December Sharara had been shut in. Though pumping then resumed, in April, the field saw a succession of production stoppages as armed groups blocked the pipeline to the coast at Zawia.
