(Bloomberg) -- Libya’s internationally recognized government alleged “political blackmail” as production began to be cut at the OPEC nation’s largest oil field.
Production at Sharara has dropped by at least 50,000 barrels a day to 210,000 since employees received orders to trim the southern field’s output on Saturday night, according to people familiar with the matter. They asked not to be identified as they aren’t authorized to speak to the media.
The North African nation is split between dueling administrations in the capital in the west, Tripoli, and a rival in the east. It wasn’t immediately clear what prompted the decision or whether output would be further curtailed.
While Libya contains the continent’s biggest oil reserves, production has often been by hit by armed groups or protesters shutting down facilities to press their political demands.
The Tripoli-based government in a statement Sunday slammed attempts to close Sharara as extortion, without elaborating. It vowed to defend Libya’s people and a field it described as a precious economic resource.
Sharara is a joint venture between state oil firm the National Oil Corp., France’s Total SE, Spain’s Repsol SA, Austria’s OMV AG and Norway’s Equinor ASA. The self-styled Libyan National Army, led by powerful general Khalifa Haftar, controls Libya’s east and much of the south.
The nation’s production reached almost 1.8 million barrels a day in 2008, before slumping to about 100,000 following the killing of Moammar Al Qaddafi in the 2011 civil war. It has been volatile ever since, although largely steady at about 1.2 million barrels a day in recent months.
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