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Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) on Monday said a refinery in Western Libya had been shut down due to lack of crude oil.
NOC said this was after losses resulting from a blockade on major oil facilities and ports had surpassed one billion dollars.
The Zawiya refinery halted operations on Saturday after a valve was closed on the main pipeline between the refinery and the Sharara oil field in the country’s south-western desert.
The NOC said in a statement that the closure “will exacerbate the problem of managing, importing and distributing fuel and will lead to very significant costs to the treasury to import additional fuel to replace the refinery’s production.’’
Protesters loyal to strongman Khalifa Haftar, whose forces control vast areas in eastern and southern Libya, shut down pipelines and major oil ports in January, leading to a halt in production and exports from these facilities.
