Oil in Global Economy Series: Terrorist attacks disrupt Libya’s oil supply (again)

The recovery in Libya’s oil production, which jumped from 0.3 million barrels per day in mid-2016 to 1 million barrels per day in 2018 continues to be hindered by a regular militant attack on its oil facilities. In the latest round of attack, the militants hindered production by 70,000-100,000 barrels per day when a massive explosion disrupted pipelines supplying the Es Sider oil terminal.

 According to a statement released by Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC), “a fire broke out on April 21, 2018 along the El-Zkout-Al Sidra oil pipeline of the Waha Oil Company (WOC), connecting the fields to the Sidra oil terminal.

Initial investigations indicate that the fire occurred 117km from Zkout and 21km from North West Marada. The NOC fire service are on site, assessing the situation and dealing with the fire. Initial reports indicate that the fire occurred in isolation valve number 3. NOC expects a loss of production between 70-100,000 barrels a day. Investigations into the incident are ongoing. There are no reported casualties at the site. The NOC Executive Board is closely monitoring developments and liaising with appropriate authorities to put out the fire and resume production as soon as possible.”

The investigation later found that it was a deliberate attack that caused the fire. NOC tweeted, “Initial investigations indicate that a deliberate attack caused the fire to hit isolation valve # 3 and the bypass on the By-Pass valve in the pipeline - the Sidra. The enterprise estimates production was affected by 80,000 barrels per day”.

This was a second pipeline attack in five months. The repairs would take a week.