Libya's national oil company National Oil Corporation (NOC) has resumed oil production at its major oil field of Sharara, which had been closed since November 2014, due to a pipeline blockade by local armed factions loyal to rival Libyan alliances.
The pipeline leading to Sharara and neighbouring El Feel field (closed since April 2015) has been reopened, allowing NOC to restart Sharara production at a pace of 58,000 bbl/d; the company expects to add 270,000 bbl/d to national oil production within three months. The nominal production capacity of the Sharara oil field stands at 330,000 bbl/d and that of the El Feel field at 90,000 bbl/d.
Libya's oil production has recently doubled to 600,000 bbl/d as forces controlling the eastern Oil Crescent changed (the eastern forces allowed NOC to reopen several ports). However, this production level remains much lower than the 1.6 mb/d produced before 2011 - Libya is exempted from the OPEC pledge to cut oil production - and ageing infrastructure needs maintenance of repair.