Instability could lead to 95% oil production loss in Libya
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Mustafa Sanalla, Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) chief, told reporters in Jeddah that the continued instability in Libya could make it lose 95% of its oil production.
Currently Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA), which is allied to a rival administration in eastern Libya, is commandeering an offensive to control Tripoli.
Sanalla comments were made in Jeddah ahead of a ministerial panel gathering on Sunday of top OPEC and non-OPEC producers.
Sanalla also said an attack had happened near Zella oilfield earlier on Saturday. Reports from Libya indicate that the workers at the field were safe and facilities had not been damaged.
Mustafa Sanalla, of the Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC). Photo: EPA/MOHAMED MESSARA
Two guards were killed and four others were kidnapped early on Saturday in a suspected ISIS attack targeting the oilfield. The attackers struck at an entrance gate to the field, which lies near the town of Zella about 760 km southwest of the capital, Tripoli.
ISIS later claimed responsibility for the attack through its Aamaq news agency.
The Zella field belongs to Zueitina Oil Company, which pumped 19,000 barrels per day on average in the last quarter of 2018 across all its fields.
