An armed group has shut a valve on the pipeline linking Libya’s El Sharara oil field to Zawiya, disrupting crude supplies to one of the country’s main export terminals and its largest operating refinery. The interruption has forced the National Oil Corporation (NOC) to close one processing unit at the Zawiya refinery, while keeping another unit operating for as long as possible.
The groups involved were affiliated with the Oil Facilities Guard Agency of the Western South and the Western Military Zone, according to the NOC. Their specific political or economic demands have not been identified, and the expected duration of the blockade is unknown.
The valve closure caused pressure to build inside the crude pipeline. El Sharara, about 700 kilometres south of Tripoli, is Libya’s largest oil field and can produce about 350,000 barrels of oil per day at full capacity. It accounts for roughly one-third of the country’s total oil output.
Over one week, lost production exceeded 942,000 barrels, the NOC said. The largest daily loss was nearly 260,000 barrels on Tuesday. The company put its financial losses from the interruption in oil supplies at about $95 million over the same period.
Zawiya is about 45 kilometres west of Tripoli. Its refinery has a capacity of 120,000 barrels per day and supplies gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, liquefied gas, fuel oil and petroleum distillate for domestic consumption. The NOC has warned that further disruption could require the refinery to shut down completely.
El Sharara is operated by Akakus Oil Operations, a joint venture involving the NOC, Spain’s Repsol, France’s TotalEnergies, Austria’s OMV and Norway’s Equinor. The brief does not identify any separate statements from those international partners.
The NOC has also warned that it may declare force majeure if the pipeline blockage continues. Such a declaration allows contractual obligations to be suspended when circumstances are beyond a party’s control. The corporation last declared force majeure at El Sharara in January 2024, during an earlier shutdown.
Libya holds Africa’s largest proven oil reserves, yet its oil sector has repeatedly faced interruptions since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Armed groups and protesters have frequently targeted energy infrastructure to press political or economic demands. El Sharara itself was closed for almost two years, from November 2014 to December 2016, after an earlier pipeline blockade.
The current disruption places both crude exports and domestic fuel processing at risk. Its effect on international oil markets, Libya’s export contracts and the timing of a possible reopening remain unclear.
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