Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) announced that losses resulting from the continued forced closure of Valve No. 7 on the main Sharara-Zawiya crude oil pipeline have exceeded $75 million.
In a statement, the NOC said the continued closure of the valve had exacerbated the cumulative decline in production from the Sharara oilfield and increased the loss of crude allocated to supply the Zawiya oil refinery.
The NOC said daily production losses from the Sharara field amounted to 129,085 barrels on Monday, 259,349 barrels on Tuesday, and 235,983 barrels on Wednesday, while losses reached 237,937 barrels on Thursday.
It added that cumulative production losses over four days of the shutdown totaled 720,362 barrels of crude oil.
The NOC warned that these figures could rise and multiply if the shutdown continues, noting that this would directly affect the refining units at the Zawiya refinery, which face the risk of shutting down one after another as the reserve crude stocks in their storage tanks approach depletion.
The NOC also stressed that the continued closure of the valve on the crude pipeline is compounding production losses and threatening the crude supplies needed to keep Al-Zawiya refinery operational.